Per, soul, na!
by Bboy46
Summary: When Minato became the Great Seal, he thought his journey was finally over. Boy was he wrong. Thanks to some help from Elizabeth, Minato can live again, well live in the Soul Society anyway. How will the blue-haired wonder affect history with his power and, of course, his charisma. I'm back! (somewhat)
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! Here's that Persona 3 x Bleach crossover I mentioned in one of my chapters for Lelouch's Inferno. For some reason, I was compelled to do this, but I hope it goes well. Let's get started.

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Chapter 1: Minato and the Soul Society

**Minato P.O.V.**

It has felt like an eternity or maybe it has just been a few years, I'm never sure. Ever since I used the power of the Universe to become the Great Seal, I lost a sense of time. I mean, I am crucified to a giant door. I can't move my body, I can't move my head, it's like I'm made of stone! Wait, I am made of stone.

THUMP

Oh great here comes Erebus. The thing I built the Great Seal for.

THUMP

I can see one pair of its eyes now. Oh sorry, do you not know who Erebus is? Let me explain: Erebus is the personification of human malice. Anger, despair, desire for death, he's all of this. The Great Seal is designed to keep him away from its sister, Nyx, the one I sealed away.

THUMP

There are its hands and its second pair of eyes. I sealed away Nyx because if Erebus comes in contact with Nyx, Nyx will end the world, specifically turn mankind into shadows. Shadows are fragments of humans egos that-

BASH

Ow! Dammit Erebus, of all the places on the Great Seal you could hit, why does it have to be me, the tiny statue of me on this skyscraper of a door?! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but it still hurts when it hits me even if I show to reaction to it.

"Megidolaon!" A person shouts, sending a massive amount of almighty energy at Erebus. This was followed by a series of other Megidolaons which destroyed Erebus, for now.

Ah, there's my favorite elevator attendant. Sure took your sweet time Elizabeth I was almost starting to miss the conversations where you talk, I listen and that's about it. No really, I was actually starting to miss them.

"My apologies, Master Minato, but I finally found a way." Elizabeth said appearing next to me.

Don't sweat it Eli- wait what? If you could turn my head or show how shocked I was or even be able to speak, I would do so now.

Elizabeth seemed to chuckle a bit as if understanding my shock. "Yes, I found a way to free you, but…"

Cue the bad news.

"…while you will be free to do as you wish, you will still be a part of the seal, the keystone, in fact. Meaning if you die, the Great Seal falls apart. Also, because you're a part of the Great Seal, Erebus will come after you."

The cons outweigh the pros here Elizabeth, I'm not taking this offer. I sacrificed too much for this seal to happen. I'm not letting it collapse just to stretch my legs.

"Don't worry; I have a solution for this. By sending you back in time, I can confuse Erebus of this time as to where your location is. Given it takes a year for it to reform you don't have to worry about it too much. I'll take care of it when the time comes. Go and live your life again. After everything you've done, you deserve it." Elizabeth said as she materialized a scroll.

Well, as long as you say so Elizabeth.

"Because you technically died, I can't send you back to your world. However I can send you to where souls are supposed to go when they die. You'll be able to make new friends there and maybe…some new social links." Elizabeth said as the scroll unrolled, became unnaturally long, and began to wrap around me.

I hope this won't hurt.

"The spell I'm about to use is something that comes from the world you're going to. That world is so much like yours yet different at the same time. Just remember, Master Minato, you signed the contract." Elizabeth said before taking a deep breath. "Ok, Sentan Hakuja!" Elizabeth shouted as the white scroll tightened around me.

This will definitely hurt. Oh well, good bye Elizabeth, hope to see you again.

"Farewell, Master Minato, I-" That was all could here from Elizabeth before she disappeared from view and instead I saw a view of the countryside.

I rubbed the back of my head because for some reason it was sore. "Seems like I was right, that did…" I stopped when I realized I was talking and moving my arm. I jumped up in surprise. I then spun around looking at the scenery. There was a village about a half-mile away from my location. Wasting no time, I sprinted there…and tripped on the fifth step.

"You ok there?" A voice behind me asks.

"Yeah, just tired, that's all." I said. It was technically true, given how I haven't used my legs in such a long time. I stood up to get a good look at the person talking to me. He was about an inch shorter than me and had blonde hair with some of it covering the top part of his left eye, both of which were blue. I could've sworn he has a mirror image of me if it wasn't for the hair and eye color.

"Wow." Apparently he got the same idea as well, given the surprised look on his face. He then shook his head, as if he was trying to get the idea out of his head. "I'm Izuru Kira. You?"

"Minato Arisato." I put out a hand and Izuru shook it. "I'm new here, could please explain what this place is?"

"No problem, brother from another mother." Izuru joked, a bad joke at that, but I've heard worse from Ikutsuki, the bastard. "We're in the Soul Society, the place where all souls are sent when they die."

"Sent?"

"When a person dies, they still remain in the World of the Living. Then Soul Reapers-"

"Excuse me?"

"Before you came here, didn't you see a person in black robes and a sword?"

"Uhh…" I didn't know what to say, seeing how I came here through different means.

"It's ok; some people have trouble remembering their time in the World of the Living when they come here." Izuru explained while I was sighing in my head. "Soul Reapers are souls that have two duties. One is to send souls that have died to the Soul Society and the second is…well you can find out later."

"Why?"

"Because I think you should become a soul reaper. You have spiritual pressure, something that everyone who wants to be a soul reaper must have. If you want to find out more, I suggest joining the Soul Reaper Academy, like I did." Izuru said displaying his attire which, as I have noticed just now, is the same as the description of the Soul Reapers. "I wanted to join so I could make my parents proud."

"So you're a Soul Reaper?"

"Well… I'm still just a trainee as I've yet to graduate, but I know I will at the top of my class." Izuru said with eyes full of determination.

"Not unless I do instead." I said before smirking.

"Heh, see you there." Izuru said.

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana…_

Sweet, haven't been here for a day and I've already made a social link. Unfortunately, it seems like all my social links have reset, but thankfully, my ability to make them, a.k.a. Courage, Academics, and Charisma, is as high as ever so that's good.

_Yes this is very good._

I was a bit surprised at the voice in my head, but didn't let it show on my face. 'Hey Orpheus. Took you long enough to talk.'

_Forgive me Master, but I just woke up from my slumber._

'You were sleeping?'

_All of your personae were. With your becoming of the seal, all of us fell into a deep slumber. With your freedom, I have awakened, but the others are still sleeping, preventing you from using their power._

_Hey, what about me?_

'Hey Jack Frost.'

_'Hey there Minato, buddy! When you made a link with this guy here I woke up to!'_

_Yes, even though you didn't make the Fool link yet, being your original persona, I woke up regardless._

"Hey, you ok Minato? You've been staring into space." Izuru told me, snapping me back into reality.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I sometimes go into a daze." I said, trying my best to look apologetic.

"Don't worry about it. Here, let me show you the way to the Academy." Izuru said as he walked on ahead.

"Wait up!" I shouted, running a bit after him.

Izuru explained that the Soul Reapers lived in a place called the Seireitei and that regular souls lived outside it in the Rukongai or Rukon District for short. He also explained how the Rukongai is separated into four parts: North, South, East, and West. Each of those parts had 80 districts with the first being the closest to the Seireitei and most law abiding and the 80th being the farthest from the Seireitei and most lawless. He said that the village we were near was second district of the West Rukongai: Shizukesa **(Tranquility)**.

"Well, that just about explains the workings of the Soul Society." Izuru concluded.

"You know, you never explained the reason you have swords." I stated, noticing how he never talked about enemies or anything that required fighting, but still had a sword.

Izuru chuckled a bit. "Mighty perceptive, aren't you? Yes there are creatures we have to fight and they do appear here in the Rukongai, but not so much in the districts closer to the Seireitei. Like I said, if you want to know more, join the Academy."

"You're just trying to bait me with information." I stated then smiled. "Relax; I was probably going to join the Academy regardless."

"So you figured it out huh? Well, I hope to see you there, I really do. Now if you excuse me, I have some errands to do." Izuru said before…teleporting? Whatever Izuru did certainly looked like it. One moment he was right next to me and the next I see him in the distance and then gone again, but not before doing a quick wave goodbye.

SMASH

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana…_

Sweet, a level up right after forming a link. 'Hey guys, any new personae awake?'

_Sorry Minato, hee ho, just us still._

_It appears like a persona only awakens at the start of a social link. There might be different way to awaken the other personae then._

'That would be nice. No offense guys, but the two of you were never the strongest.'

_None taken, but I feel stronger than when I fell into my slumber, truthfully._

_Me too!_

_I believe it might have to be your bond to the universe that caused this._

'You're saying that the universe powered up all my personae and not just me?'

_Precisely._

'Can't wait to gain Messiah and Orpheus Telos again then.'

_Yes I can't wait to evolve to that state too._

'Wait, you were Telos?'

_My name is in his name, that should be obvious._

'Right, sorry Orpheus.'

_Don't worry about it._

After concluding my talk with my two personae, I found myself in the second district, but I walked through quickly, not wanting to talk to anyone as no one caught my eye. When I entered the first district, I saw someone who did. He looked quite young and had silver hair with blue eyes. He reminds me of snow for some reason.

The boy looked at me and scowled. "What are you looking at?"

"You." I said as I walked up to him.

"You also here to laugh at me or something?"

"Why would I laugh at you? As you can see, I'm not exactly one with a natural color everyone can accept." I said as I pointed to my blue hair and silver eyes.

"Point taken." The boy said and sighed. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm on my way to the Academy."

"You too, huh?"

"Too?"

"My best friend also left for the Soul Reaper academy a year ago. Haven't seen her since."

"You worried about her?"

"N-no…" The boy looked away, with slightly redder cheeks. "…it's just that without her, all I have is granny and she won't be here forever. When she passes away, I'll truly be alone. As you can see, silver hair and blue eyes doesn't exactly scream normal."

"True…" I said remembering how I also had such problems when I was young. "…but all you have to do is prove them wrong."

"Prove them wrong?"

"Show them that you're as human as the rest of them without changing who you are." Show them that even with your different physical features you can still be fun to hang around with."

The boy sighed and smiled a bit. "To think I'm getting advice from a stranger I met a minute ago. How far I've fallen."

"When you fall, you get right back up." I said, copying something Aigis usually said when getting up after being knocked down.

"You're pretty cool. Name's Tōshirō Hitsugaya, you?" "Minato Arisato." Tōshirō nodded and looked out to the place I can only assume is the Seireitei. "Good luck in becoming a Soul Reaper." Tōshirō said before I nodded myself and started walking towards the Seireitei. SMASH _Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana…_

Hermit huh? Well he does seem like someone who whose trying to find their place in the world. Wait new arcana, new persona…

_Naga is here to serve, Master._

'Hey Naga, great to have you back.'

_Great to be back._

This is quite nice. I've got three personae and I'm already at level two with one of my two social links. Things couldn't get wor-

_Uh, Master Minato?_

'What is it Orpheus?'

_I've been meaning to ask, but how do you intend to summon us?_

I stopped dead in my tracks. 'What?'

_When alive, you summoned us with that device called an Evoker, but I do not believe you have one on your person right now._

I quickly searched myself and found out Orpheus was right. I was missing one Evoker and, even worse, one MP3 player. Without my personae and my music, I'm done for.

_Don't worry Minato! I'm sure you're strong. That Izuru guy said you had a lot of spiritual pressure so I'm sure you'll do fine with or without us!_

'Thanks Jack Frost, that means a lot.'

_Yeah, and if worse comes to worse, you can always hope Death or something else comes bursting out of your head again._

'Worst. Joke. Ever. Naga.'

_Forgive me, I was hoping to 'lighten the mood.'_

'Didn't quite help, but thanks anyway.' I finished my talk with my personae and found myself in front of the Seireitei with a…giant guarding it. Wait…a giant?!

The giant turned to look at me and gave me a very menacing look. "Who are you?" It bellowed.

"Uh, I'm Minato Arisato." I said, hoping this guy won't go fairy tale on me and grind my bones to make his bread.

"What's your purpose in coming to the Seireitei?"

"T-to become a S-soul Reaper." I managed to stammer out.

"Oh!" The giant seems surprised. "Then look no farther, the registration to become a Soul Reaper is over there." The giant says pointing with his massive figure to a wooden booth connected to the giant walls of the Seireitei. "Good luck on the entrance exam!" The giant then smiled at me with a big goofy grin, the same kind Junpei would give sometimes after showing off.

"Thanks." I said before quickly walking off to the booth.

_That giant wasn't so tough; I could've crushed him with a snow ball!_

'Jack, he would've turned you into snow paste first.' I responded before stopping in front of the booth.

"You here to enlist?" The woman at the booth asked. She wore glasses and had short black hair.

"Uh, yes ma'am." I responded quickly.

"Very well, name?"

_Think of a fake one._

"Orpheus Frost."

"And I'm Venus. Name?"

Should have figured. "Minato Arisato."

"Age when you died or were you born here?"

"Died at seventeen."

"I…see." She seemed depressed at this.

"I am Nanao Ise, the lieutenant of Squad 8, but you will call me Lieutenant Ise unless I say otherwise or you are my equal or superior. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am." I said. This was one woman I do _not_ want to mess with.

"Good." Nanao pressed a button in the booth and a part of the wall the size of a door slid down. "Welcome to the Soul Reaper Academy."

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I decided to use English style for addressing people and ranks because that will be easier for me. I decided to add new things like new districts (as I have just done) and kido to the story as it progresses. If there's a bold word in parentheses next to the word then it means it's something I came up with. I f not, it's Bleach canon. Also, expect new personae as well, but it will be a while before that happens. Stay tuned!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! I must say, I surprised. In 24 hours, I got quite a bit of views. Hope it keeps up. I feel like I must explain something first before beginning. The selection of social links. Izuru is the magician because before he became despair incarnate, he was a lot like the magician people of persona 3 and 4: confident and has potential. Also, all of them suffer a tragedy in their life. What kind I won't say, but should become obvious and explain why he became so dark. Tōshirō is the Hermit because he always seems to be searching for something, maybe wisdom or understanding. In this one we'll have two new links that I'll explain at the end and a surprise persona.

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Chapter 2: Entrance Exam

**Minato P.O.V.**

When I entered through the wall, I expected some kind of military academy/boot camp with people shouting "ten more miles, come on!" at a group of nearly dead recruits. Instead I found people dressed in white clothing talking leisurely in a courtyard.

"Attention!" Nanao shouted behind me. "Now that we have 500 participants, we can now begin the entrance exam." Nanao then looked at me and narrowed her eyes. "You sir, were very lucky." I gulped. I could tell that we somehow started on the wrong foot even though I don't know how or why.

"I s-suppose I am." I stammered out. Damn, she's scarier than the giant.

Somehow her eyes narrowed even more before she looked away from me. "Follow me to the first stage of testing." Nanao said as she walked through some corridor with everyone, including me, following after. After what I swore was a mile of walking, she finally stopped at a massive from filled with desks.

"Uh, Lieutenant Ise, is the first part of the exam a written portion?" One person asked.

"Of course, everyone here must have the basic knowledge of the Soul Society to make it anywhere. Even those battle crazed buffoons of Squad 11 know this stuff and their captain, no matter how psychopathic he looks and acts, knows even more. The test is one hundred questions, you must get a score of eighty or higher if you want to pass."

I sighed at this point. At Gekkoukan High, I always got first place in exams, but that doesn't mean I enjoy taking them. However, things sure did get easier when my personae began to give me the answers. Seeing how many of them come from ancient history, they knew a lot more than what was on the test and I even marked out what was incorrect in the questions and/or answers on the history portion of the exam. Boy was Mr. Ono shocked at how marked my exam paper was. He said I was too good for school, too bad Mitsuru thought otherwise.

"All right everyone, take a seat. The exam will begin when everyone is ready." Nanao concluded as everyone began to file in. When I took my seat (somewhere in the middle) the test paper, along with two pencils and an eraser materialized, but I assumed that it was simply invisible from the start. I picked up the pencil and wrote my name on the exam.

"Ok, begin now!" Nanao shouted followed by the sound of scribbling pencils.

'Ok, let's begin.' I thought as I read the first question.

_Question 1. How many districts are there in one of the four parts of the Rukongai?_

_Oh, I know! It's eighty!_

'I know Jack, I remember.' I told him as I wrote eighty in the answer spot.

_Ok, ok, just trying to help._

'I'll ask you if I need help.' I told Jack Frost as I continued with the test. The first part was writing the answer which was followed by a multiple choice and then finishing with a fill in the blank portion. I think I did well for the most part, but a lot of the stuff I was unsure or didn't know, so I guessed to the best of my abilities. When I finished looking over my answers for the third time, I placed the paper down and sighed, slumping down in my chair. I saw my test paper vanish from my desk and noticed a piece of paper materialize on top of a stack of papers on the desk that Nanao was sitting at, who was reading a giant book.

After eight to ten minutes passed, the stack doubled in size and four of them were now present on Nanao's desk. She closed her book and placed it down. "All right, that's all of them." She then pressed this switch on her desk, but I couldn't tell where because of the massive amount of papers. Above her, a screen appeared with what I assume is all the students here, seeing how I'm at the end of the list, being the 500th recruit and all. The stacks of papers on her then disappeared. "If your name turns green, you passed, if it turns red, you fail. Simple, right?" Nanao asked rhetorically as the names began to change to green or red starting at one and going down. To say that the anxiety was killing me would be a huge understatement.

_Relax Master, you're already dead, you won't be dying anytime soon._

'Thanks Orpheus, but that didn't really help me.' I responded as the 450th person's name turned red. So far, over 200 students' names turned red and now it was at person 475, whose name also turned red. I crossed my fingers as the 496th student's name turned green. After the 499th's name turned red I saw my name come up and it turned…yellow?

"Congratulations Minato Arisato." Nanao said standing up. "You finished the test with a 100%, something that makes the name turn yellow. The last time this happened was when Lieutenant Ichimaru was taking the exam. However, don't let this go to your head, just because you completed the first part with flying colors doesn't mean you pass the whole thing. Those who passed, follow me." Nanao said with about 100 kids following suit.

I was shocked, to say the least. Questions like _Which squad is the Captain Commander the Captain of? _I had no way to answer. I put first squad because that seemed most logical, but then again, I did guess for some of my answers on my first exam at Gekkoukan so maybe I just had logic defying luck. I shook my head, trying to clear my head, and quickly followed after the rest of the remaining students.

When I finally caught up, I found out we stopped in a courtyard, but a different one compared to the other one we all started in. "All right, this is where I leave you for your next instructor. Good luck to you all." Nanao said before she did the same thing Izuru and vanished.

"All right guys listen up!" A man said. We all turned to look at the source of the voice and saw a man wearing a white cloak on top of his Soul Reaper uniform with a big smile on his face. He had short black hair and a beard. My name is Isshin Kurosaki! I am captain of squad 10 and all you men shall address me as Captain or Captain Kurosaki, but for the ladies…" Isshin's grin grew wider. "…you may call me Isshin or Papa Bear." Isshin then let out a big laugh.

_If that was his way of picking up girls then he failed miserably._

'I'm with you all the way on that Jack.'

The smile on Isshin's face then vanished, being replaced by a serious look. "All right, all joking aside, I'm here to test your control over spiritual pressure." Isshin then teleported to a giant crate and took out pieces of paper the size of my hand and in the shape of squares. "These pieces of paper were made from a special tree that grows by absorbing spirit energy. The paper changes color according to the spiritual pressure put into it. Going from red when little, blue when moderate, and green when high. When I say a color, you have to regulate your spiritual pressure output to change the color. If you put in too much, the paper will tear. Each of you will get three pieces of paper, if all three rip, then you fail. Do all of you understand?" All of us nodded. "Good, now line up. We'll begin when the last person gets their pieces of paper."

When Isshin stopped talking, we all lined up. I took this opportunity to count exactly how many people were left. Including myself, I got a total of 104 students left. I was surprised at how so many failed the test.

"Next!" Isshin shouted when it was my turn. I walked forward and he handed me my three pieces of paper, but before I could leave he stopped me. "Hey, you're the guy who aced the test right?" I nodded. "You've gotten the attention of all the recruits here, so you better watch out. The Academy never had any fatalities before, but that doesn't mean that fights don't erupt and severe injuries don't occur. If you want my advice, be careful. The afterlife is far too similar to the Living World for you to think you're always safe."

I nodded carefully at Isshin's advice, unsure of why he was telling me this. I was actually about to ask this when he gave me a goofy grin and said. "Also with your good looks, not only will there be hoards of fan girls running after you, but guys so jealous of you that they will try to hurt you." I groaned as I realized that Isshin was right. The first day I went to school after getting maximum charisma, I was attacked by hoards of girls that I swore were trying to rip me apart. "Truthfully though, I am slightly jealous of this, any guy would, until it happens to them of course." Isshin joked. I then realized that this would probably be what Junpei is like in the future, so I couldn't help but smile.

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana…_

This guy a Hierophant? I couldn't quite grasp the idea, but I'm glad I made a new link anyway.

_Berith is here to serve, my liege._

'Ah, Berith, how's my favorite duke of Hell doing?'

_Quite rested I must say._

'Good to here.' I said to my newest persona as I walked away to let the next person take their slips of paper. I sat down on the ground that was in the shade and waited for the rest of the people to take their pieces.

Once the last person took their pieces, Isshin closed the crate and sat on it. "Ok now everyone! Take one of your pieces and hold it with both hands. Imagine your energy flowing into it. Now try to pull back on that energy, make the paper red."

All of us did as Isshin told us to do and in a matter of seconds I heard some people's papers rip. I stared at the paper and tried to visualize my energy, but stopped when I saw it begin to change from blue to green.

"Oh yeah, you have a limited amount of time for each of these. So far you have thirty seconds left for this." Isshin shouted out.

I began to panic, but then I tried something. I imagined preforming one of the level 1 magic spells: Agi, Bufu, Zio, and Garu. Given how little spirit energy was needed to preform them, I figured that imagining doing it would also make me release little spirit energy. I was right, seeing how the paper was completely red.

"Ding, ding! Time's up! Those who were unable to do it may promptly get out before I kick you." Isshin said as five students got up and left, leaving 99 students left. "Now do blue."

For blue, I imagined doing level two magic: Agilao, Bufula, Zionga, and Garula. Just like the first try, it worked. The paper changed from red to purple and then stopping at blue.

"Wow Minato, you made yours blue fast!" Isshin said, earning me glares of jealously from the guys and gazes filled with amazement from the girls. Seems like Isshin was right, I'll be torn apart by one gender and skewered by the other.

About 45 seconds passed before Isshin said time was up. Six students got up to leave this time, dropping it down to 93 students. I began to wonder how few would be left when all this was over when Isshin shouted "All right! Now for the last and hardest: green! Minato you only have ten seconds to do this one!"

My jaw dropped at this. Isshin was expecting too much from me, way too much.

"Starting…now! Better hurry Minato!" Isshin said before laughing.

I quickly imagined the level 3 spells, the –dyne spells in my head. The paper quickly came to life, changing from red to blue without any signs of changing to purple.

"Five seconds Minato!" Isshin shouted as paper tore from other kids' attempts.

I began to concentrate really hard as the shifting began to slow down. Right now it was green tinted with blue.

_Keep at it!_

'Not helping Jack.' I thought as it began to change green and finally stop at a grassy green.

"Amazing Minato! I was really joking about the ten seconds thing, but you actually did it with two seconds to spare. I think we have our next child prodigy." Isshin said while smiling.

I wanted to strangle him so much right now. He's truly lucky I don't have an evoker on me right now.

_Yes, he should burn for is trickery to my liege._

'Agreed Berith, agreed.'

This time ten students got up to leave, dropping the final count to 83. I was wondering exactly how good Soul Reapers are to be able to get through all this.

"Well, the final exam is actually quite easy, but requires you to have some stamina to do it. For this reason, we usually give recruits a short break so they can eat. Using and regulating spirit energy can be quite tiring, but doing things like eating and resting restore it quickly. Follow me to the cafeteria." Isshin said before turning around and walking down a corridor. After a couple turns we came upon a massive room filled with lunch tables. "Well here you go the lunch room. Once you pass, this will be where you'll be eating your breakfasts and lunches. I mean, if you pass, of course, but you'd seriously have to suck to fail the last part." Isshin then walked away somewhere as some students began to worry about succeeding while others got a major boost in confidence. I, on the other hand, didn't really care. I was somewhat part of the latter, but didn't worry about it too much as I went to get my lunch.

"What do you want?" The lunch lady asked as I picked up a tray.

"Something light." I said. I didn't want to overdo it so I decided to play it safe and go easy on the meal.

"Here you go." The lunch lady said, giving me a ham and cheese sandwich (not even grilled) and an apple.

"Thanks." I said before walking to a seat.

As I took my seat I noticed another bunch of students walking through a different corridor. This group was being led by a man wearing the same white cloak as Isshin and had white hair that went down to behind your head. "Well, this is where you'll be eating your meals; in about 20 minutes we'll notify you to get your ōō." The man said before walking off in the same direction Isshin went in. Apparently we weren't the only group taking the entrance exam seeing how all of them were also wearing white uniforms.

"All right, time to eat!" One person shouted. I saw that he had purplish hair that went down to the back of the neck and covered his ears. He had a 69 tattoo on his left cheek for reasons I don't want to know. He walked to the lunch line but saw that the long grew quite long. He then noticed me and I could hear his stomach growl from here.

_I suggest you move Master._

'Great idea Orpheus.' I replied as I quickly picked up my tray and tried to move, but he quickly pounced on me, well not on me, but onto the table.

"Hi there." The guy said to me, eyeing my food.

"Uh…hi." I said, a bit nervous about what's about to happen next.

The guy then got down on his knees (still on the table) and clasped his hands together. "Please let me have some food!"

I sighed as I tore my sandwich in half and gave a piece to him. He gobbled it up so fast I almost didn't realize it. "Name's Shūhei Hisagi, yours?"

"Minato Arisato."

Shūhei then smiled and said "Weren't you the one who got a perfect score on the test?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Word travels fast around here and I'm guessing by your reaction that you did." He then gave a thumb up. "Good job man! We just might have the next child prodigy right here."

"Not yet, there's still the final portion to do." I said as modest as possible.

"Don't worry about it! Every time I took that part no one in my group failed!"

"Every time?" I asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Err…uhh…well…" Shūhei began to break down in cold sweat. "All right I confess. I failed the entrance exam twice, always on the test, getting a 78 or 79 on it. I also failed the graduation exam of the academy, for the same reason basically, four times. That's why I know how easy it is to pass something we haven't done yet. Go ahead laugh at me." Shūhei sighed depressingly.

"Why would I insult you?" He perked up at my question. "All I can say is that you have bad luck with tests."

Shūhei then smiled and got a bit teary-eyed. "Thanks man that means a lot."

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana…_

Fortune huh? Well Shūhei does seem like the type to go with whatever's thrown at them and make the best of it.

_Greetings…_

'Uhh…hi?'

_Master, this is not one of your personae._

'What do you mean Orpheus?'

_…__my name is Hypnos._

'What?!' At that instance I stood straight up, surprising Shūhei.

"You ok man?" He asked, a bit concerned.

"Bathroom." I said running to the hall where the bathroom sign hung above. I sprinted in and closed the door and locked it. Thankfully, there was no one in here at the time. I then narrowed my eyes. 'All right, why are you, the persona of Takaya, in me?'

_You possessed the Universe Arcana for a period of time. During this time, many personae entered it. I was one of them. However, I notice I'm slightly weaker than when I was part of that buffoon Takaya._

'Thanks for the explanation. Did you say you didn't like Takaya?'

_Yes, I wasn't Takaya's true persona. I was, in a sense, implanted into him and forced to yield to him. I hope that my time with you will prove to be more fruitful._

'Well as long as you don't try to screw me over or something, welcome aboard.' I responded before unlocking and leaving the bathroom. I walked it over to where I was sitting before to find myself flanked by Isshin.

"Hey there Minato!" Isshin said. "Seems like you were in the bathroom, huh? Never did trust those lunch ladies, bet they use the stuff they serve as rat poisoning."

I smiled a bit at this comment. "Well it won't be the first time someone's tried to kill me."

Isshin laughed at this. "Oh you kidder!" He then looked at my face to notice I wasn't laughing with him. "You're serious? Yikes. Well I'm sure you'll do fine here. After all…" He then pointed at himself with his thumb. "…big brother is watching." I smiled at this also.

SMASH

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana…_

"Well come on, everyone's getting their zanpakutōs now." Isshin said, pushing me along.

We stopped when we came to a large crowd that stopped in front of a stand that had a large amount of swords behind it on display.

_Wow, bet some of your persona would get giddy from the sight of that._

'So true Jack, so true.'

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Captain and prodigy coming through!" Isshin shouted as he literally dragged me through the crowd. When we finally made it to the front, he let go of me and I was finally able to stand on my own feet. I looked at the person behind the stand and saw a young woman with green eyes, black hair, and a long braid going down behind her. Isshin smiled and said "Hello Nemu."

"Good afternoon Captain Kurosaki." Nemu said almost robotically.

Isshin sighed and looked at me. "Minato, meet Nemu Kurotsuchi, lieutenant of squad 12. Nemu, meet Minato Arisato, the newest member of my squad." I was a bit surprised at this.

"Pardon me Captain Kurosaki, but if my information is correct, then Mr. Arisato has yet to be accepted into the Soul Reaper Academy and cannot be a part of your squad." Nemu said. Good God, she sounds like Aigis when she first joined us.

"Well then, in the future he'll-"

"It is unknown whether he'll graduate or not." Nemu said, interrupting Isshin.

Isshin sighed at this. "Anyway, Minato here would like a zanpakutō."

"Understood." At this, Nemu walked away and grabbed a sword from the hundreds of them and placed it on the counter that separated us. She then pulled out a glove and put it on and jumped over the counter to be standing right in front of me. "I recommend you hold still. People have claimed this procedure is painful."

"The faster the easier." Isshin said with his arms crossed and a big smile on his face.

"Understood, commencing zanpakutō creation." Nemu said before she placed her gloved hand on my chest which…passed through it. When she was elbow deep inside me, she said "This part will hurt." I realized that was a huge understatement when I felt my soul being torn in two. Good grief the pain! This hurts more than getting Tartarus dropped on you would. When she pulled her hand out, it was holding a sphere of light blue energy. She then placed the sphere over the sword and I watched how the sphere sunk into the blade. The sword then grew light blue for a second before the radiance disappeared and Nemu picked it up with her gloveless hand. "Here is your zanpakutō, Mr. Arisato. Use it wisely."

"Thanks, I guess." I said as I picked up my zanpakutō. I felt a small reaction with it, but discarded. 'Everyone all right?'

_Besides some feeling of being torn apart, ok._

"Come on, let's get you in uniform." Isshin said dragging me away somewhere as I heard a person scream as their zanpakutō was being formed. Isshin stopped me at another stand. However, this one had only a few people surrounding it. I noticed Shūhei was one of said people. He turned around and waved.

"Hey Minato!" Shūhei shouted as Isshin walked over. "I see you got your zanpakutō huh? Hurts like a bitch, right?" I nodded.

"Ok! Enough bonding! Let's get this guy in uniform!" Isshin declared and grabbed me by the collar, but before going, he grabbed Shūhei by the collar also. "Let's get you one also!" Isshin said as he dragged both of us to the front. I recognized the person standing at the front; he was the same person that led Shūhei's group to the cafeteria.

"Hey Jūshirō." Isshin said to the man. Isshin then looked at me. "Minato, this is Jūshirō Ukitake, Captain of squad 13." He then looked at Jūshirō. "Jūshirō, this is Minato Arisato, my new lieutenant." I dropped my jaw at this. So did Shūhei.

Jūshirō chuckled a bit. "I don't think you can just get someone to become your lieutenant, even though they passed the entrance exam."

"Huh, when did I pass the final exam?" I asked.

"When you received your zanpakutō. That reminds me, do you know what a zanpakutō is?" I shook my head.

"You let someone do something to you without even knowing what for? Wow." Shūhei commented.

"Well…" Isshin began. "…a zanpakutō is the main tool of a Soul Reaper. A zanpakutō is a part of a Soul Reaper, literally. What Nemu did to you was taking a part of your soul and implanting it into the sword. That part will then obtain sentience and give you power through your bond that you nurture with it." This sounds a lot like a social link to me. "The first step to bonding with your zanpakutō is to talk with it. After today, your zanpakutō will pull you into your inner world to…chat with you."

"Inner world?"

"Your inner consciousness. Your inner world is based off your personality and memories. Your zanpakutō is the same. It can represent something you embrace, shun, or don't even realize about yourself." This sounds like a persona to me. "The goal of talking with your zanpakutō is to learn its name, something only it can choose whether or not to reveal. Once you learn your zanpakutō's name, you can use shikai, the first release form of a zanpakutō. To acti-"

"Ahem!" Jūshirō said, interrupting Isshin. "As much as Minato might want to listen to you explain, you'll have to save it for later, you're holding up the line."

Isshin frowned. "All right, I'll explain to him later." Isshin said letting us grab our Soul Reaper uniforms that Jūshirō gave us. At first I thought that it would be too big for me, but when I put it on, it was a perfect fit.

"The uniforms change size in accordance to their wearer's size so they are truly 'one size fits all.'" Jūshirō explained to me.

"Cool." That was my only response.

"Yeah, yeah, now this way!" Isshin said, dragging me somewhere, separating us from Shūhei and Jūshirō.

"Where are we going now?" I asked.

"To meet the rest of the captains!" Isshin declared. "I want them to meet the newest member of my squad!" For some reason, I began to get a cold shiver go down my spine as if there was some looming threat.

* * *

I bet a lot of you were surprised when Minato got Hypnos, huh? Hypnos' strength has diminished though. He only possesses mind charge and all the level two single target spells. Shūhei is Fortune because he always seems like the kind of person to try to make the best of everything, like how he never gave up even after failing so many times. I figure it's because he is determined for something and uses every event, whether good or bad, to reach it. Isshin is the Hierophant because he does have is fatherly sides, even though he does act goofy most of the time. Well that's all for now, don't expect an update tomorrow due to school, but within the week and get ready to see Minato's meeting with the Captains!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Clash of the Captains

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

All was peaceful in the captains' meeting hall. Captain Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, captain of squad 1 and leader of the Gotei 13 was holding his monthly tea ceremony with the other captains. However, it appears that four of them are missing.

Yamamoto placed his tea cup down and spoke. "Tell me, where is Captain Ukitake, Captain Kurotsuchi, Captain Zaraki and Captain Kurosaki?"

"Well," Captain of squad 5, Sōsuke Aizen began. "Jūshirō is at his quarters, his illness acting up again after spending time at the Academy, Mayuri is doing something at his squad barracks that we're better off not knowing, Kenpachi is training his squad members for once, and Isshin is at the Academy."

"I see." Yamamoto said, taking another sip of his tea. "Wonder if we'll get any adequate recruits this time."

Captain of squad 8, Shunsui Kyōraku, sets his tea (that he spiked with sake) down and speaks. "Well you know Isshin; he can spot talent from a mile away. He'll probably drag the unfortunate prodigy here just so he can introduce him to us."

"Oh how I wish you didn't say that Shunsui." Captain of squad 6, Ginrei Kuchiki said.

Shunsui was about to ask what he meant when they heard the sound of running footsteps followed by a skidding does and then the screen door opening with a bang. "Guess who I've got?" All of them heard Isshin cry out which led to all of them sighing in synchronicity.

**Minato P.O.V.**

After being dragged around like crazy by Isshin, he finally stopped at some building before throwing the screen door open. "Guess who I've got?" Isshin shouted as he then dragged me in.

"I take it that this boy is the 'gifted one' of the new group?" A person said. I looked up to see who and saw a very, very, _very_ old person with a beard longer than my arm.

"Yes he is! This boy scored a 100 on the test, showed excellent control over his spiritual pressure and he has blue hair! How can you say a guy with blue hair is not cool?"

I figured that Isshin probably made up the third thing about me just to have a third reason, but strangely many people bought it. "My name is Minato Arisato. It truly is a pleasure to meet you all." I said, doing a little bow afterwards.

"My, my, seems like this one has manners for a fledgling. Probably a suck up like my useless lieutenant." A woman said. She had short black hair and two, long braids of hair going down behind her. Each of the braids was bound in white cloth and had a golden ring attached to the end of each.

"Now, now, Sui-Fēng, that's no way to treat the new guy." This voice came from a man. He's wearing a pink colored kimono with flowers decorating it over the white cloak everyone except me is wearing. "He then took an empty cup and filled it with what I presume is tea and offers it to me. "Tea?"

I take the cup from him and take a whiff of it. Realizing what else is in the cup, I give it back to him. "Sorry, but I don't drink sake." I stated out. The look the kimono wearing man gave me probably meant he forgot that there was sake in the tea and the look the other people gave the kimono wearing man probably meant that his spiking of his tea is not uncommon, but they aren't pleased that he did it.

"Heh, that's pretty impressive, being able to smell sake in a cup of tea. You sure you don't drink?" Apparently the kimono wearing man was trying to change the subject. I decided to help.

I shook my head. "I just know the smell of alcoholic drinks because an acquaintance of mine when I was alive drank a lot."

"Really now?" The kimono wearer asked. "Must've been a heavy drinker for you to know the smell of alcohol especially when it's been diluted by tea."

"Yeah, he was, but had a very good reason for it. He was a monk that managed his dead parents' shrine. At some point though, he became so focused on it that his wife and son left him. Since then, he drinks and smokes at this bar I started to work part time for. His family left him about two decades before I met him so he was in his fifties or sixties when I we had our first talk."

"You sure kept weird company."

"You don't know the half of it." I said and sighed, I was starting to get nostalgic from talking about my time with Mutatsu. "He always told me to not waste life by doing nothing but working and to not expect anything great to happen. When he finally told me that his family left him, he acted like he was contempt with living on his own, but one time I went to talk to him, he was seriously drunk and mistook me for his son. Apparently he was acting the way he was to me because he actually had concern for me given I was entering the prime of my life. He finally confessed at how he truly did miss his family and is worried about his son."

"Oh? What happened in the end?" The kimono wearer asked as if he knows what the ending was. Although this first started as a way to get off the topic of the sake, the kimono wearer seemed to get truly interested in the story, as well as Isshin and a few of the elders.

"He finally decided to stop drinking." I said, earning a look of surprise from the kimono wearer. "He hired a detective to find where they were living and when he found them, he went over there, got on his knees, and apologized. His wife didn't have much to say, but his son gave him quite a mouthful, but hugged him afterwards. I met him one last time after that. He told me that it was his last day at the bar and was going to help his son at the restaurant he owned and ran. He was going to stop hiding and face his mistakes and do his best to undo them." I sighed again and smiled a bit at how…_relieved_ Mutatsu was when he said this. I really did like talking to the old man, even though I got that badass persona Chi You as a result from maxing out my link with him, I missed my chats with him.

The kimono wearing man gave a depressing sigh and looked at his cup before giving it another sip. After releasing another sigh he finally spoke. "Seems like sake doesn't mix well with tea after all." He said before setting his cup down. There was a grim silence hanging in the air as the kimono wearer's face seemed to grow with guilt and, from the looks of it, the old man with the very long beard, the woman with the long braid of hair going down in front of her know why he has this guilt.

"That was quite a story, Mr. Arisato, but I don't believe any of us have given our names as of yet." The long braided woman said, trying to break the silence. She pointed to the man with the freakishly long beard. "That's the Captain Commander and Captain of squad one: Captain Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto." She then pointed to the double braided woman. "That there is the Captain of squad 2 and Head of the Stealth Force: Captain Sui-Fēng." She then pointed to a woman with short, black hair and green eyes. "This here is Captain of squad 3 and head of the Shiba clan: Misaki Shiba." She then pointed to herself. "I am the Captain of squad 4, the medical and relief squad: Captain Retsu Unohana. Please note that whenever you find yourself under our care that you should be respectful. After all…" Retsu's face, while smiling, seems to have gotten demonic in appearance. "…your life is in our care and it would be…unfortunate if something would to happen to you."

"I-I see." I responded. I haven't felt this terrified since Misturu almost 'executed' me and the others during that hot springs fiasco. I got away thanks to casting a sukukaja on myself and pushing Junpei out into the open. The others…weren't so lucky.

Retsu's face returned to its non-demonic look. "Excellent." She then pointed at a bespectacled man with chestnut hair that ended just above his eyebrows. "This here is the Captain of squad 5: Captain Sōsuke Aizen." Sōsuke looked at me with a kind smile and nodded. Next, Retsu pointed to an elderly man with long gray hair and a very bushy mustache. "This is the Captain of squad 6 and head of the Kuchiki clan: Captain Ginrei Kuchiki." She then pointed to a large man wearing a mask over his face, preventing me from seeing it. In fact, why did he wear a mask at a tea ceremony (or party if that's what they're having) if he couldn't drink tea while wearing it? "This here is Captain of squad 7: Sajin Komamura." If Sajin showed any reaction, he certainly didn't show it. "The person you've been talking to is the Captain of squad 8: Shunsui Kyōraku." Shunsui did a quick wave of his hand as a way of saying hello. "Captain of squad 9 is Kaname Tōsen." She pointed to a man with a dark complexion, multiple braids of dark brown hair, and he wore transparent goggles over his face, but one could see through them, making me find trouble as to why he needs them.

_He's blind my liege._

'Oh, hey Berith, all of you have been quiet for a while.'

_Yes, well we've also been taking in this information and have been choosing the best people to make social links with._

'I can do that by myself, thank you very much.'

_…very well._

'Now what did you say?'

_That man is blind._

'Ok, thanks, but how do you know that?'

_Isn't it obvious?_

'No, no it isn't.'

_Oh…_

"I'm sure you've already been introduced to Captain of squad 10: Captain Isshin Kurosaki." Retsu said, bringing me away from my chat with Berith. I gave a brief nod to show that I was listening. "Unfortunately, three of our Captains aren't here right now, but I'm sure you'll meet them soon enough anyway, so I'll tell you their names. Captain of squad 11, the most powerful in terms of fighting power squad of all 13 of them, is Captain Kenpachi Zaraki. Captain of squad 12 and President of the Research and Development Institute: Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi." Retsu was about to continue when I put my hand up politely.

"I've already met Captain Ukitake; he's the one who gave me my uniform." I responded.

"Well, I suppose it makes sense that you saw him, given that he was also helping at the Academy." Retsu said.

"Now then!" Isshin shouted, bring everyone's attention to him. "I would like to put Minato in all S-rank courses." I dropped my jaw even lower than when he proclaimed me as his next lieutenant.

I looked over to Retsu, in hopes of getting a helpful explanation, who just smiled and said. "If a student is doing too poorly or excelling in a course, seated members of the 13 squads can vote to change is courses. However, the greater the change, the higher in rank the seated officer must be. In the case of throwing a new student into the S-course classes, Captains will have to decide in a group of seven or more. I for one say yes." I gulped because as talented as I thought I was, I didn't want to plunge head first into the S-courses. That would be like Misturu asking us to kill the Reaper on our first day of exploring Tartarus.

"Hmm, I say yes also." Sui-Fēng said, probably just to make my life miserable (what I did to her exactly I'll never know).

"Same here." Shunsui agreed.

"I, for one, would like to see how he fairs." Sōsuke said.

"Of course you have my vote!" Isshin chirped in. "How 'bout it, Captain Commander?"

"Hmm…" Yamamoto began to think. "Yes, the best way to make the best warriors is to put them to their limits." My hopes of not dying in the Academy sunk when the Captain Commander _himself_ agreed to putting me in the S-course also.

"Then it's decided Minato! You're going to finish in one year and become the next Captain of squad 10!" I wasn't surprised really at this, given how much Isshin said I would become, each one being greater than the other, but quite a number of the other Captains went wide-eyed at Isshin's statement. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he declared me the next Captain Commander. I sighed and gave a look to Retsu that translated to 'is he always like this?'

Retsu gave a nod so I sighed again. If I had my personae, or more of them to be specific, I would've been able to smooth talk my way out of this with room to spare. However, with only five arcana, there wasn't much I could do.

"Silence!" Yamamoto shouted. Everyone turned to face him. "As much as your enthusiasm is…appreciated, Mr. Arisato must finish with flying colors to even be _considered_ for a seated position, and this doesn't even include Captain."

Isshin sighed. "Yes, yes I know. Anyway, you need to get your studies ready. Here, let me show you the way!" Isshin said, grabbing me by the collar again.

However, my persona, Virtue, must've made a miracle for me because Retsu stopped Isshin before he ends up suffocating me by his manner of taking me places. "Isshin, you shouldn't put off your own duties even if it is to help the next prodigy." I'm surprised at how Retsu called me a prodigy. Does this mean she also expects a lot from me?

"I'll do it if that's ok. I need to get some more sake and Nanao has been eyeing a new book, so I figure a nice surprise is in order." Shunsui said lifting his hand up lazily.

"Wonderful. Minato, Captain Kyōraku will escort you back to the Academy. Good luck there."

I nodded in response and turned to Shunsui who stood up. "On the way, let me show you some of my wonderful vantage poi-"

"Excuse me Captain Kyōraku, but as much as you want to be friendly to Mr. Arisato, please don't teach him such…impure…things." Retsu said and then made a demonic smile. "Understand?"

"Ha, ha." Shunsui laughed nervously. Yes, Captain Unohana, don't worry."

"Good." Retsu said, returning to a regular smile.

I noticed it was already dark outside when Shunsui and I stepped out of the building and closed the door. After a few seconds, Shunsui started talking. "Words of advice: Never get on Captain Unohana's bad side. Unless, of course, you have suicidal tendencies."

"Noted." I quickly responded. It got quite soon after, so I decided to start the conversation. "Why were you affected by my story?"

"Huh? Ah!" Shunsui gave a look of confusion, then realization, probably just remembering what I was referring to. However, it quickly saddened. "It's quite a bit of a story. Something best discussed over a bottle of sake."

"I think your reaction to my story tells me everything really, except the end."

Shunsui sighed. "Endings are sad things, no? Sometimes I wish nothing would end, but then nothing would change."

"Some things are best left unchanged."

"Heh, look at you. Someone who just entered the Academy and talking like your wiser then Old man Yama."

"I get that a lot… sort of."

"I expect so."

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana…_

The Tower… I feel sorry for whatever happened to Shunsui but… show me Tower!

_Greetings again Master, Eligor is here to serve._

Hello Eligor, make yourself at home.

_Thank you Master._

"Anyway…" Shunsui began, trying to break the sorrowful atmosphere. "…let's take you back. You'll be getting your supplies and whatnot tomorrow. I suggest you rest up, it can be quite brutal."

"I'll take your word for it." We continued the rest of the walk in silence except for the usual chat Shunsui ends up having with passing Soul Reapers.

"Well, this is the male students' dorm." Shunsui said. "Usually they'd be upset if they saw you coming late, but with me by your side, things will go smoothly."

When we entered, we saw a blonde haired Soul Reaper at a desk reading a big, blue book. Shunsui came up and began talking to the person at the desk, the person just handed Shunsui a key to which Shunsui came back.

"Wow, that Soul Reaper must be quite a reader. Their face was completely covered by the book so I couldn't see it at all. In fact, I couldn't even see if it was a male or female." Shunsui said before holding up the key. "Anyway, here's your key to room 3-5. That means 3rd floor, 5th door. The doors are numbered so don't worry too much about forgetting though."

I think Shunsui spoke a bit more, but I didn't catch any of it. The numbers on the key were too significant. 3-5; March 5th, Graduation Day, the day I fully became the Great Seal. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the book the Soul Reaper at the desk was holding shift slightly. While I still couldn't make out the gender, I could see the hair and eyes. The hair was so blonde, you'd think it was bleached and the eyes: as yellow as a cat's. I only knew one person with that combo of hair and eyes. I couldn't be sure, but I believe the Soul Reaper smiled a bit.

"Well, that's all, any questions?" I refocused my attention to Shunsui who was probably saying something important, something I wasn't even listening to, but I just acted normally and shook my head. "Well then, if you excuse me, there's a bottle of sake at my squad barracks that's getting lonely. Time to give it some company." Shunsui said before dropping the key into my hands. The moment Shunsui left, the key glowed blue and an additional key materialized, connected to the first key by a keychain. The new key had a velvet blue color to it.

_Seems like our friends from the Velvet Room are back._

'Seems like it Orpheus.' I responded before looking back to the desk which was now vacant. I smiled a bit before I went up to my room. Apparently, there was only one set of stairs for the whole dorm and all the doors were on one side. The door closest to the stairs was number one and increased as you went farther down. When I came to the door marked 3-5, I stopped and looked at the wall facing it. In an aura of blue light, a door stood there. A door only I could see probably. I smiled a reliving smile, as if I finally found a long-lost friend, and opened the velvet door.

* * *

I decided to make Shunsui the Tower because of his constant drinking which reminds me of Mutatsu. Besides, no one can drink as much as Shunsui does and not be attempting to drown out any sorrow. On another note, I did get the date of Minato's death right, right? I've been trying to make sure and I could never find a reliable source. Well then, see you next time.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the Fourth chapter! Just as a quick note for the later chapters, I plan on tweaking some things timeline wise that Minato doesn't have anything to deal with. You'll see in maybe 1 or 2 chapters after this one.

* * *

Chapter 4: A Velvet Reunion

**Minato P.O.V.**

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor said as soon as I stepped in. "However, I suppose I should say welcome back."

"Yes, it's good to be back Igor." I said as I took my usual seat. I noticed that no one was standing next to Igor at the moment.

Noticing this, Igor explained. "Ah, my apologies, but I'm currently short an assistant right now. Elizabeth is making some preparations if I recall correctly and my second assistant, Margaret, is in the middle of a battle with your successor."

"My successor? Aren't we in the past though?"

"You forget, Master Minato." Igor chuckled. "The Velvet Room is always one with the real world's current time. So if the current year is 2010 and you go back in time to 1945, the Velvet Room will be like how it is in 2010."

"I think I get it. The year, I assume, when Elizabeth sent me here was 2010. So even though I'm in the past, the Velvet Room is still one with 2010."

Igor smiled. "Exactly. However, the year Elizabeth sent you back from was 2012. You've were the Great Seal for about two years. During that time, a new Fool appeared and a new threat to the world along with it."

"Is he doing a good job?"

"Yes, he's been preforming wonderfully. He is just putting the 'finishing touches' as you may call them. Margaret was the assistant I had with me during his visits and, like Elizabeth with you, grew fascinated by him. So, before his journey came to a close, she decided to challenge him."

"How's he doing?"

"Although I don't observe such things usually, last time I checked, they were even, but Margaret used Diarahan on herself."

"That reminds me of how annoying it was when Elizabeth casted that. Thank god it was only once."

"Yes, your battle with her was also a wonder to observe." Igor said before with a raise of his left hand, cards appeared on the table. "Now to your situation at the moment."

I nodded. "Something important will happen, won't it?"

Igor chuckled. "Not in terms of the fate of mankind resting upon it, but something important will happen. With a small movement of his left hand, a card flipped over, revealing the Magician. "The Magician, in the upright position. This represents harnessing one's own power and talents. Seems like you'll have a great harnessing over your new powers."

"I take it you're referring to my zanpakutō." I said, putting my hand on the hilt.

Igor smiled and nodded. "That and others." Igor said, leaving me confused at what other powers I could possess. Igor flipped over another card, showing the Moon. "The Moon, in the upright position. This represents illusion and mystery. I suggest you be wary of your surroundings. Masks don't have to be seen to still be there. The most innocent of smiles can easily hide the cruelest of intentions."

I instantly thought of the once chairman and advisor of S.E.E.S.: Shuji Ikutsuki. I clenched my teeth. "Not something I'm new to Igor."

With a wave of his hands, the cards vanished. "Yes, my apologies, I forget how painful betrayal can be."

I sighed and smiled. "It's alright. No harm, no foul." I said before deciding to change the topic to one of my questions. "Tell me Igor, how can I summon a persona now?"

Igor smiled a smiled large than I thought possible. "Your powers as they are now are different than before. In due time you will learn, but I'll still be able to perform my services of fusing personae for you." I did a victory dance in my head. "However, I can't at the moment." I started crying in my head. "Your soul isn't in unity at the moment, with part of it residing in your blade. Until your two parts have formed a link, attempting to preform fusions would be…unpleasant to your soul to say the least."

I nodded. "Well thanks for telling me anyway Igor."

Igor just chuckled. "Anything for a guest, whether current or the predecessor."

I smiled and stood up. "It was nice meeting you again Igor."

"Yes, it was quite…nice." Igor said before I stepped through the door to leave.

I noticed that no one was around when I left the Velvet Room, thankfully. I unlocked the door to my room and opened it, noticing that there were two beds, meaning that I might have to share with someone else. However, given the neatness of the room, my possible roommate didn't show up even though it is starting to become night. I looked at the desk and found multiple text books. One is on basic sword fighting, called zanjutsu. The next is on spells that Soul Reapers can cast, Kidō. Hand-to-hand combat known as Hakuda is in the third text book and a fourth text book that discusses fighting at super-fast speeds: Hohō. However, Hohō seems to be for the advanced classes.

_Worried about the subjects?_

'Hmm? No, not at all Orpheus. I was just wondering how difficult my first day at the Academy would be like.'

_Well you were and in fact you're still a genius, so what's there to worry about?_

'You have a point, Orpheus. I don't really have anything to worry about. My time in the kendo club, fighting Shadows in Tartarus, and just practice in general has made me an expert on sword fighting. My training sessions with Akihiko and trying out new weapons in Tartarus have made me quite efficient with using my fists in combat. Kidō sounds a lot like casting spells so that would be a synch given my spamming of them when I want to have some fun.'

_Don't even get me started on your spamming! When you first learned that you could do Jack Brothers when you had me and my bro Pyro Jack, you used it whenever you started a battle, and you fight a lot!_

'Why are you so frustrated?'

_It's not easy doing stand-up comedy with only a five minute break!_

'Ok, Jack, whatever you say.'

_Master… if I may give you my opinion…_

'Sure Hypnos, go ahead.'

_Naga and I have been discussing…and we believe that it would be best for you to establish a 'link' with your sword. According to that man Igor, once you do, you'll be able to fuse and create more personae and obtain your ultimate personae once again._

'That's a great idea Hypnos.'

_You've become friends with Naga?_

_Does it surprise you Jack Frost? Perhaps it's because my former master, Takaya, was friends with Jin, a man of the Hermit Arcana, like Naga is._

'Interesting theory Hypnos.' I figured Hypnos was right since I was able to make my social links level up when I had a persona of the same arcana in my repertoire.

_As much as I agree with Hypnos and Naga, my liege, I think it would be best if you rest for now._

'Very well Berith.' I said before placing my sword at the side of my bed and going to sleep.

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

Inside the Captain Commander's Office, Yamamoto, Isshin, Jūshirō, and Retsu were talking.

"How are the recruits?" Yamamoto asked.

"Less than a fifth passed and the ones that did didn't look that special really." Isshin responded.

"I concur." Jūshirō agreed. "I didn't feel any strong potential from any of them. While I'm not one to downsize people, this year's batch seems average at best."

"Wait…" Shunsui began. "…you're forgetting about Minato."

"You're right." Isshin pitched in. "I didn't feel much spiritual pressure from him, he has excellent control over it. If I didn't know better, I'd say he has reached Captain Level already and was just decreasing his spiritual pressure not for others to notice. I have a feeling that Minato is very unique."

"I agree." Retsu said, bringing everyone's attention to her. "Minato's spiritual pressure was…different from anything I've seen before."

"What do you mean by this?" Yamamoto asked.

"His spiritual pressure felt…layered."

"Layered?" Shunsui asked.

Retsu nodded. "It felt as if his spiritual pressure was layered and mixed with a multitude of others. To an unobservant spectator, his spiritual pressure will seem normal while if you look closely, you could detect multiple parts to it. Including Minato's own, I detected five parts."

"That many?" This time it was Jūshirō who questioned.

Retsu nodded once again. "However, I was skeptical at this as well so I searched for his pressure again. This time, I detected six parts."

"He gained one so fast?" Shunsui asked/exclaimed.

"The most interesting part though was that two parts of his spiritual pressure were almost exact copies of Captain Kurosaki and Captain Kyōraku."

This nearly made Isshin and Shunsui fall over. "How?! We don't feel like we lost any spiritual pressure so how did he manage to obtain them?" Isshin asked, being the first to recover from the surprise and shock at how a good kid like Minato could even do something like that.

"I'm unsure how and maybe Minato's not even aware of it. However, if he keeps this up, there's a chance he'd become a force to be reckoned." Retsu concluded.

"I see." Yamamoto said. Secretly, he was in as much shock as everyone else was, but still appeared calm. "We don't know whether Minato will prove hostile to the Soul Society or not, but the best action would be to observe him. We need strong soldiers to fight the Hollows and the Menos Grande."

"Don't forget the Vasto Lordes and Adjuchas." Shunsui said. "Our scouts have said that they have started rallying together. Seems like they didn't like it when you killed their leader, the Oscuro Fantasma **(Spanish for Dark Phantom)**, 100 years ago and they want payback."

"They'd be fools if they tried." Yamamoto said. However, he knew how powerful the Vasto Lordes can be. Their leader was no pushover either. For the first time in 300 years, Yamamoto was forced to use his bankai and even then the fight was difficult. Oscuro Fantasma wasn't the king of the Vasto Lordes and Hueco Mundo for nothing. However, his savagery and lust for conquest caused him to declare war on the Soul Society. The result was chaos. The Vasto Lordes and Adjuchas were making quick work of the lesser Soul Reapers and the Captains could only take on so many at once. Eventually, with the Soul King allowing Yamamoto to use the Ō no ha **(Jap. for king's blade)**, Yamamoto and the other Captains of that time were able to push the Menos Grande back to Hueco Mundo, killing a large number of Vasto Lordes and Adjuchas. To ensure that another invasion wouldn't happen again, Yamamoto went to Hueco Mundo alone and challenged Oscuro Fantasma to an all-out brawl. The result was the total obliteration of Hueco Mundo. Almost everything in the dimension was destroyed except the Forest of Menos and Las Noches, everything else became a desert. It was brutal, but in the end Yamamoto won, Oscuro Fantasma was slain and a large majority of the Vasto Lordes and Adjuchas were wiped out in the cross fire to the point where Adjuchas were uncommon and Vasto Lordes were little more than a myth.

When Yamamoto returned, he saw just how much of the Soul Society was destroyed. The Central 46 deemed the Rukongai to be of little concern, putting many of the districts in poor conditions and possess little governance. Captain Unohana tried to press the issue, but they wouldn't even let her have an audience with them.

"Are you completely certain of this?" Retsu asked, worrying if a repeat of the events that occurred during the last mass Hollow invasion will happen.

"Positive. While I doubt they'll be attacking soon, I suggest we be on our guard." Shunsui replied.

"I see. Now, back to the matter first at hand…" Retsu began, moving the conversation back to the original topic: Minato Arisato.

"I say we leave Minato alone for now. If he starts to do anything suspicious, we'll talk to him about it. Personally, I think it's just some kind of special anomaly or maybe a mutation, like Captain Komamura." Isshin suggested. Jūshirō and Shunsui nodded in agreement.

"Very well then, we shall simply observe Mr. Arisato for now. However, if he shows any actions that are harmful to the Soul Society, I want a Hell Butterfly sent to Captain Sui-Fēng immediately. Understood?"

"Sir!" The three of the Captains said in unison while Retsu just closed her eyes and nodded.

"Good. Now then, I bid all of you good night." Yamamoto said before the four other Captains flash stepped away.

Unknown to any of them, a figure standing outside of the Captain Commander's office was smiling.

"Seems like Mr. Arisato will be a very interesting piece to have. Wonder how strong his allegiance lies with the Soul Society is." The figure said to himself before flash stepping away to an unknown location.

**Minato P.O.V.**

I woke up groggily and on my stomach. I could've sworn I fell asleep on my back though. I got up and looked around. It seemed like I was on the first floor of Tartarus. However, there were some differences that were quite noticeable. The first was that there was no door to the Velvet Room. Second was the absence of the transporter that S.E.E.S. and I used to move to higher floors faster. The third was that the exit to leave Tartarus wasn't there. Instead there was a wall, giving no indication there even was a pathway there. The fourth was that the way to the second floor was blocked. The opening that should be inside the giant clock that the stairs lead up to has some kind of door locking it shut. Apparently, the only way I'd be able to leave is going up and that's not even a choice right now.

"Hello?" I shouted. "Anyone here?" There was no answer except my echo. I walked around a bit and kicked the barricade blocking the only visible route up.

_Do you want to climb?_

"Huh?" I say as I turn around only to find no one. "Who said that? Orpheus, are you here? Naga? Hypnos? Jack?" I call out to some of my personae, hoping they'd respond.

_They can't help you climb. Only you can help yourself climb._

"Show yourself!" I shout, getting an uneasy feeling.

_We'll meet soon, but for now, keep trying to climb._

"But-" I try to say when I suddenly wake up covered in sweat.

_Master! Are you alright?!_

'Yeah Orpheus. I'm fine, I think.' I sigh and look out the window, but find myself staring at a… red pineapple?

"Hey! Glad to see you're ok." A person exclaims. I realize that the red pineapple was actually the hair of a person. A male person with brown eyes. "You look like you were having a bad dream."

"Who are you?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm your roommate. Name's Renji Abarai."

"Minato Arisato."

"Well Minato, guess we'll-" Renji tried to continue, but a loud bang interrupted him. I looked to see the source and saw the door to our room broken open. A petit girl with black, short hair and violet eyes was standing at the doorway with an upset look.

"Renji! I thought we agreed to meet each other thirty minutes ago!" The woman shouted.

I sighed, feeling like I was with Junpei and Yukari again.

_Those two always made me think of Hades and Persephone._

'They bickered a lot?'

_More like at each other's throat. _I sighed again at Orpheus' comment, something that caught the woman's attention.

"Huh? Who are you?" The woman asked with a severe lack of manners.

"My name is Minato Arisato."

"Rukia." The girl said quickly.

Renji sighed before looking at me. "Want to join us. We simply hang out over in the big courtyard until classes begin."

"Yeah, but we lost 30 minutes of that time thanks to you." Rukia said sharply.

"Yeah, I know. So, wanna come?"

"Sure." I said as I got out of bed and grabbed my zanpakutō as Renji grabbed his and walked out the door with Rukia leading.

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana…_

'Do I have any Fools beside you Orpheus?'

_No, I'm the only Fool persona here._

'I see.' I reply as I walk pass the Velvet Room door and follow after Renji and Rukia to start my first day at the Academy.

* * *

Minato had his first dive into his subconscious! Not that he knows of course. Renji and Rukia are the first parts of the Fool Arcana. I'm not sure if I want them as social links though because I only have so many arcana that I have left (6 have been used after this chapter, leaving 16). In case anyone asks, I have figured out the appearance and functioning of Minato's shikai form and the appearance of Minato's bankai form while function is still in the works.


	5. Chapter 5

Here is the fifth chapter. Truthfully, I feel like this one was a bit forced, but I needed a certain event out of the way to get the ball rolling a bit. Sadly, there will be no social links being formed in this chapter, but expect a new one in the next chapter!

* * *

Chapter 5: First Day

"So, how long have you been dead?" Renji asked.

"Hmm?" I respond. I was hanging out with Renji and Rukia at this tree that was on this cliff overlooking the Academy. Actually we were sitting on the branches inside the tree.

"You know, how long has it been since you died?" Rukia clarified.

I couldn't really say negative-something years so I decided that the day I entered the Soul Society the day I 'died.' "Yesterday." I said.

"You've only been in the Soul Society for a day?!" Renji exclaimed, shooting up off the tree branch he was relaxing on.

"Be careful!" Rukia shouted, but it was too late as Renji fell off his branch and onto the ground below.

"What the?" We heard someone say. Said someone was obviously not Renji given his voice so he jumped down to check out who it was. To my surprise, I saw Izuru.

"Hey Izuru." I say as I see Renji stomach flat on the ground.

"Huh? Oh, Minato!" Izuru said. "It seems you made it in. Quite fast it seems, seeing you only arrived yesterday."

"s u id com ystrda" Renji said with his face still in the ground.

"Get up would you?" Rukia said, pulling Renji up by his collar. "Now what did you say?"

Renji coughed out some dirt that got into his mouth. "I said 'so you did come yesterday' to Minato." Renji coughed out a bit more dirt. "I've been dead for a couple decades and I barely made it into the Academy."

Rukia sighed. "I doubt how long you were dead affects your abilities." Rukia finished before letting go of Renji letting him fall face first onto the ground. We all laughed a bit at that.

"So, how do you think you'll fair in here." Izuru asked me.

"Quite well, considering Iss- I mean Captain Kurosaki dragged me into a meeting with the other Captains." I responded.

Everyone's jaw dropped, including Renji's who just picked himself off the ground.

"You met the other Captains?!" All of them exclaim at once.

"Well, Captain Zaraki and Captain Kurotsuchi weren't there and I didn't really talk to anyone there. I mainly chatted with Captain Unohana and Captain Kyōraku about trivial things. Afterwards Captain Kyōraku escorted me to the dorms when it got late." I explained, trying to make it sound like it wasn't such a big deal, but it seemed to have an opposite effect.

"You t-talked with the Captain Unohana?!" They say in unison. I sigh, apparently Retsu's demonic smile is well known even to those who have just entered the Academy.

"It's not that big of a deal." I try to calm them down, but failed. They began to say how much of an honor that was, but I failed to see how. They went on to say how powerful the Captains were, and they asked if I was terrified by them. Maybe it's because I've already faced a being close to omnipotence (and won mind you), but I didn't feel that scared by the Captains. They looked at me in shock as if I just did something very brave or very stupid. I was about to do a second attempt at calming them down when a blast of blue energy shot up from inside the Academy.

"It's time for class to start!" Renji shouted. "We're gonna be late."

"Let's help you then." Rukia said before kicking Renji off the cliff. I looked over and saw Renji in the ground again possibly unconscious.

Apparently that blast was the warning signal and not the signal for class to start since we got to our classroom with time to spare. Renji barely made it and looked at Rukia with a murderous look who just smirked.

"Alright everyone, time for class!" A woman shouted. We turned around to notice a woman with short, red hair and silver eyes. "My name's Chigusa Nagisa and I'll be your teacher for your time here." We all took our seat on the floor with me roughly in the middle, Renji in the far back, Rukia right behind me, and Izuru in the very front.

"Wonderful! Now…" Chigusa took out a piece of paper. "We'll first go over the basics all Soul Reapers should know. Tell me, what is a Plus?" Izuru shot up his hand. "Yes Mr.…" Chigusa looked through a couple papers. "…Kira?"

Izuru nodded and began to explain. "Pluses are the spirit of a person who has died. All Pluses have a chain known as the Chain of Fate attached to their chest that binds the plus to a location, object or person that they felt close to in life. If the chain breaks, the soul can move freely, but the chain will begin to corrode. Pluses are sent to Soul Society by Soul Reapers in a ritual called Soul Burial where the Soul Reaper taps the Plus with the hilt of their zanpakutō."

Chigusa seemed surprise at the detail Izuru put into the explanation and smirked. "Seems like someone's done their studying. Now down, who can tell me what a Hollow is?" Surprisingly, Renji shot up his hand. "Yes Mr.…" Chigusa looked through some papers. "…Abarai?"

Renji practically shouted his answer. "They're the big monsters with white masks and a hole in their chest that eat souls!"

"Err, yes, that's correct." Chigusa said, apparently expecting an answer like Izuru's. "Would anyone like to clarify Mr. Abarai's answer?" Izuru shot his hand up. "Yes Mr. Kira."

"When a Plus' Chain of Fate corrodes completely, they become a Hollow. Hollows are monsters whose distinct features are their white masks and their Hollow hole that exists where the Chain of Fate use to exist. Hollows possess an insatiable hunger for souls, living or dead. It is a Soul Reaper's duty to exterminate Hollows so that the souls that became Hollows can be purified and move on to the Soul Society." Izuru explained.

"Excellent." Chigusa said. "That is basically the two things that a Soul Reaper must do when in the World of the Living and they also exterminate Hollows that make their way to the Soul Society." A question popped into my head and I raised my hand. "Yes Mr.… Arisato."

"Are there other ways to kill a Hollow besides using a zanpakutō?" I asked, thinking of using that magic called Kidō and, if I'll be able to again, my personae's magic.

Chigusa sighed. "Yes, there are other ways to kill Hollows, but the only way to purify a Hollow is to slay it with a zanpakutō or an ability that comes from your zanpakutō. Any other method of killing will destroy the Hollow and the Plus the Hollow was formed from, causing the spirit particles that made up the Hollow to remain in the World of the Living."

"Is this bad?" I asked.

"In miniscule amounts, no, but too large and this could disrupt the balance between the Soul Society and the World of the Living. When this threat happens, it forces the Soul Society to take…drastic measures."

I gulped. "W-what do they do?"

Instead of asking, Chigusa vanished, appeared next to me, and whispered in my ear in a barely audible voice. "They kill denizens of the Soul Society in cold blood." She then reappeared at the front of the class."

"I-I see." Was all I said, still shocked at how drastic of measures the Soul Society is willing to take.

"Don't worry Mr. Arisato, it's ok to ask, but there are some things best left unknown." Chigusa said.

Class continued like normal afterwards. Chigusa talked about the 13 squads and their Captains, some of the stuff I already knew about from my meeting with them. "All right, since today was the first day, this was all I was supposed to do today. However, I don't think anyone would mind if you got some zanjutsu training." Chigusa said with a smile on her face.

"We're gonna fight now? Sweet!" Renji exclaimed and I believe Rukia face palmed soon after.

"We won't be using your zanpakutōs since someone might get hurt. Instead we'll be using kendo swords." Chigusa said as she opened up this section of the classroom wall that was near her and inside were a bunch of neatly stacked kendo swords. "Take only one."

"Hey Minato, think you could get me one?!" Renji shouted, but was followed by an "Ow!" soon after.

"You idiot, get one yourself." Rukia snapped as Renji did so.

When we were all armed and slightly dangerous, Chigusa had us choose someone to spar against. Rukia paired off against the second shortest person here (who was still a lot taller than her), Izuru paired off against Renji, and I got paired off with…Chigusa.

"Sorry Mr. Arisato, but this class has an odd number." Chigusa explained why some people snickered about my poor luck. "Ready everyone?" Chigusa asked without even looking at us besides me, preparing to strike. "Begin!" She shouts as she lunges towards me. I immediately parry and counter to which she takes a step to the side to avoid.

"So close." I say quietly.

"Have you fought with a sword before Mr. Arisato?" Chigusa asked me as she prepared to attack again.

I instantly thought back to my time in the kendo club and my adventures in Tartarus. "A bit I guess." I respond before I jump towards Chigusa to attack, surprising her. She prepares to block my vertical strike when I quickly tilted my sword slightly, letting it slide under her sword, albeit now slower in terms of attack speed. Due to this, Chigusa manages to move out of the way and attempts to strike me from behind.

_Behind you on the right._

'Got it.' I respond to Berith as I put my sword behind me vertically which managed to block Chigusa's blow. I quickly spun around to face her. This time, we both jump at the same time and our blades clash with each other.

"You have not fought with a sword for just a bit Mr. Arisato." Chigusa said with a smirk. "From the looks of it, you've at least mastered kendo and are skilled with freeform swordplay."

I smirked in return. She was completely right. I was the ace of the kendo club and fighting those shadows of all shapes and sizes certainly improved his overall sword skills. "You think we can just call it luck?" I asked, hoping she won't decide on going all out on me.

"Nope!" Chigusa shouted as we jumped back from each other. During this time I noticed that everyone else has stopped their fights to watch mine and Chigusa's.

I heard my friends cheering me on. "'Come on Minato!' 'Show your stuff!' 'Keep at it!'" Were some of the cries that I heard coming from them.

"Looks like you've already gotten some fans." Chigusa said before she jumped forward for a vertical blow while I did the same. I don't recall hearing the impact, but I do remember to top halves of kendo blades falling on the ground with Chigusa and I pointing at each other with kendo blades missing their top halves.

"Guess we'll have to call it a tie." I said internally glad that she didn't decide to get serious.

_Come on, you would've wiped the floor with her if you got serious!_

'I had personae augmenting my skills back then Jack.' I replied to the obnoxious persona before I saw a man appear at the front door. He had no hair as the sun reflected itself off his head, slightly blinding me.

"Thought I'd find you here Chigusa." The man said as he walked over to Chigusa.

"What do you mean? I'm teaching." Chigusa responded as she throws the broken kendo sword behind her with it clattering onto the floor.

"I mean I knew I'd find you teaching them zanjutsu when you're supposed to be teaching basic Soul Reaper Knowledge." When I heard this I looked at Chigusa who just smiled sheepishly.

"You know I can't help it, I love the feeling of battle." Chigusa responds.

"Yeah, yeah." The bald man says before looking at me. Actually, he was glaring at, as if I did something wrong. "Who's the blue boy?" The bald man asks.

"This here is Minato Arisato. The partner I was sparring with until…" Chigusa tried to continue, but just pointed at the broken kendo swords lying on the ground and the handle that was in my hand.

"Well, well. Seems like we've got talent here. It must have been a fun fight to drive Sword-Shatter Chigusa to the point where the kendo blades broke."

"I thought I told you not to call me that!" Chigusa said in an upset tone.

"Hey, who broke every single practice sword they were given when they had fun?" The bald man smirked.

Chigusa pouted. "At least I don't get confused for a full moon at night." Chigusa said.

"Hey! That was one time and Rangiku was as drunk as hell!" The bald man said in protest.

"Whatever Ikkaku." Chigusa said before looking at the class. "Guess I should introduce him. This here is Ikkaku Madarame. He is the third seat of squad 11."

"And this here is Chigusa Nagisa and is the fourth seat of squad 11." Ikkaku explained, causing a lot of people to look in surprise or gasp, causing Ikkaku to snicker and Chigusa to sigh. "And that kid over there…" Ikkaku said pointing at me. "…was able to fight against her."

"Didn't she just say she was holding back?" I asked.

"Doubt it. The only one who does that really is our Captain." Ikkaku explained. "She probably just said that so you don't get so full of yourself."

"You're making it sound like I'm weak." Chigusa said.

"That's why I'm third seat and you're fourth." Ikkaku said with a smirk. Chigusa growled at that.

"And your idiocy is why I'm a lieutenant." A new voice said. I turn around to see an upset Nanao at the door. "These recruits were supposed to be having their time to explore the Academy and part of the Seireitei unrestricted to them fifteen minutes ago." Nanao says strictly why Chigusa looks away, embarrassed.

"Come on Nanao, it was an accident." Ikkaku tried reason.

It didn't work. "That's Lieutenant Ise to you." Nanao said sternly making Ikkaku and the other students sweat drop. "Since you decided to give them zanjutsu training today instead of tomorrow, I suppose they can spend their zanjutsu time tomorrow practicing kidō in addition to their regular kidō class." A lot of the kids looked depressed or looked angrily at Chigusa.

"Do you really have to take your frustration out on the kids?" Chigusa asked slightly annoyed.

"You're the one who screwed up and you're the teacher. When the teacher messes up, the students are the ones who end up in trouble." Nanao said before leaving.

Chigusa turned to face us and bowed low. "I'm sorry everyone!"

Everyone still seemed too sad or angry to reply so I did instead. "Don't be sad, it was fun."

Chigusa smiled and stood up straight. "Well, I suppose kidō is as important as zanjutsu… who am I kidding?! Just learn enough to pass and forget all of it so you can bash away at the Hollows!" Chigusa said triumphantly.

"Spoken like a true squad 11 member." Ikkaku said with a smirk as the atmosphere inside the classroom lightened at Chigusa's declaration.

_I think your Chariot and Strength personae would fall in love with her if they heard that._

'Too true, Orpheus, too true.' I replied as I left with Renji, Rukia, and Izuru.

"So what do you want to do now?" Renji asked as we walked out of the Academy. Apparently students were allowed outside, but not too far as they weren't official Soul Reapers yet.

"Not sure, I feel like checking out the shops though." Rukia responded.

"We don't have any money to spend though." Izuru commented, making Renji and Rukia sigh in depression.

"Since students aren't official Soul Reapers, we don't get salaries." Izuru explained.

"We know that, but that doesn't make it feel better." Rukia says depressed.

"Well we could always ask Rukia why she has a clone." I respond as my eyes fall upon someone who looks strikingly similar to Rukia, albeit slightly paler.

"Huh?" Rukia asks as I point towards Rukia's copycat. "Who would want to mimic me?"

"Let's find out." Renji says as he cups his hands around his mouth. "HEY MISS RUKIA CLONE!" Renji shouts to the high heavens.

_Good god! My ears are still ringing!_

_How could someone be so loud as to make beings of the subconscious get headaches?_

_I'd take a brain freeze over this any day!_

'Quiet, all of you.' I snap at my whining personae because my head was still ringing and I don't need my personae making any more noise.

The Rukia copycat looks at us and I notice how she looks slightly sick. However, the moment she saw us, but seemed like she was mostly looking at Rukia, she rushed over to us.

"You ok?" I ask as she stops in front of us, panting. It was then that I noticed that she looks exactly like an older version of Rukia.

"I…finally…found you." She says while looking at Rukia.

"I-Is that you-" Rukia tries to say when the woman hugs her.

"Yes, it's me." The woman says with tears rolling down her eyes.

"Sister Hisana." Rukia says before bursting into tears.

_Wow, never saw that coming._

'Neither did I Jack, neither did I.' I reply before finally noticing how sick the woman called Hisana really looked.

* * *

I figured that how many (can't really say all) schools have a short day as their first day of school, I figured that the Academy should do the same and give a basic rundown of the Soul Society. I'm not entirely sure why I added that Minato's question scene, but maybe I did. Who knows. Also, as you can see, the first noticeable change occurs. Hisana is still alive! However, I made it clear that she is still sick, so don't get your hopes up for anything amazing.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry that this one's a bit late, had a water polo tournament that I had to attend. Don't have anything else to say, so let's go!

* * *

Chapter 6: Family Reunion

"Rukia."

"Hisana."

"Rukia."

'How long has this been going on?'

_About seven minutes, my liege._

'Feared so.' I responded as Rukia and her recently found, long-lost, older sister were stilling crying about their reunion.

Another man appeared nearby and looked at Hisana. He had black hair that went down behind his head to just below his neck with a few, long strands of hair going down the right side of his face and then curves left, with the tip in front of the left half of his jaw. "Hisana, where have you-" He immediately noticed Renji and I and I suddenly felt a large amount of hostility from him. He slowly moved his right hand to his left waist and lifted his right leg, as if he was about to step.

_Master, defend yourself!_

I decided to comply with Orpheus' exclamation and quickly withdrew my zanpakutō, but before I could point it at the man, his blade clashed with mine. I noticed how his blade would've taken my head off if I didn't unsheathe my sword. 'Thanks Orpheus.'

_You can thank me later, focus!_

The man jumped back, allowing me to fully unsheathe my sword. I pointed at him, completely cautious. What really surprised me was how he was able to come at me so fast until I remembered one of the things covered at the Academy: Hohō, the category of hyper-speed combat.

_I think Nata Taishi would be nice to have about now. He would spin circles around this guy._

'Obviously.' I replied as the man prepared to move again.

"Byakuya, wait!" A cry I recognize as Hisana's called out. "They're Rukia's friends."

The man, whom I presume is named Byakuya, looked surprised. Not at the friends part, but at the part where Rukia's name was spoken. He immediately sheathed his sword and looked at Hisana in surprise. "Y-you mean-"

"Yes, Byakuya, yes." Hisana said with a huge smile on her face before she passed out.

"Hisana!" Rukia and Byakuya both shout as Hisana collapses into Rukia who caught her.

Byakuya immediately rushes over to check on her and then looks at Renji and me. "Help me carry her."

We both quickly nodded. Even though he tried to kill me a minute ago doesn't mean I shouldn't help him help Hisana. The three of us picked up Hisana as Byakuya put her right arm around her while I did the same with her left. Renji went to help Rukia up, who was shocked by the barrage of events that just occurred and passed out.

"What's your name?"

"Hmm?" I ask, noticing just now that Byakuya said something as he carried Hisana to where Byakuya was leading us.

"I asked for your name." Byakuya repeated.

"Minato Arisato."

"I see. Well then, Mr. Arisato, you have my gratitude for helping me with my wife."

"You're husband and wife?" I asked which was followed by a nod. "Doesn't that mean that Rukia is-"

"Yes, she is my sister-in-law."

"That will take some explaining to her. Don't think she'll be happy with your attempt to take my head."

"I believe you're right on that account. However, you must understand that seeing my wife crouching on the ground near you made me worried."

"No harm, no foul."

_No harm?! He almost went Queen of Hearts on you!_

'Quiet, Jack.'

"This is my house." Byakuya said, snapping my attention to the front. I wonder what Byakuya's definition of house is because this looks more like a mansion. I'm not joking, it looks like someone took a building half the size of Tartarus and laid it down on its side. However, there was nothing creepy about the place.

"Are you a noble?" I asked, already knowing what he was going to say.

"Yes, I am Byakuya Kuchiki, heir to the Kuchiki clan which is one of the four great noble clans." Byakuya said with a hint of pride.

"Kuchiki? What's your relationship to Ginrei Kuchiki?" I asked remembering Ginrei as the Captain of squad 6.

"He is my grandfather, current head of the Kuchiki clan, and Captain of squad 6, a squad that is deeply connected to the Kuchiki clan with almost every Captain of squad 6 possessing a connection to the Kuchiki clan. Now, what exactly is _your_ relationship to my grandfather?"

"I meet him during a get together for Captains that Captain Kurosaki literally dragged me to."

Byakuya sighed at this. "Should've known Captain Kurosaki would do something foolish. You'd think a branch family of the Kuchiki clan would hold more self-respect."

"You and Captain Kurosaki are related?" I asked, trying to see a connection between the two.

"Technically yes, but so many centuries have passed that there is little to no blood relation between the Kuchiki clan and the Kurosaki clan, but they're still a part of the lesser nobles. Enough talk, we should get Hisana inside. She has been ill lately and I would like for her to rest."

I nodded as Byakuya and I walked to the gate with Hisana. The giant gate seemed to open on its own as a person, who I instantly recognize as Ginrei, walks out from inside the Kuchiki house.

"Byakuya, where have you-" The Ginrei quickly notices Hisana and sighs. "I told her to get some rest. I really do hate it how she does this. Anyway, come inside now. I'll get some servants to help." Ginrei said as Byakuya and I walked inside.

"Hey! What about me?!" I heard Renji call out and turn around to see Renji a bit farther behind us carrying Rukia on his back. I had forgotten about him. I look back around to see Ginrei look at Byakuya who simply nodded his head. Some servants arrive and carry Hisana somewhere and when Renji got here, they carried Rukia to the same room as Hisana, per Byakuya's request. When Ginrei questioned this, Byakuya gave his reasoning, to which Ginrei widened his eyes and then gave a happy smile. Byakuya then left to check up on her sister and sister-in-law's conditions.

"On behalf of the Kuchiki clan, I thank you for aiding my grandson and also lieutenant with his wife." Ginrei said after Byakuya left.

"No worries Captain Kuchiki." I respond. Renji looked surprised at how he realized he was in the present of a Captain and how I knew this already.

"Seems like you still remember an old man like me." Ginrei said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Well it hasn't been a day since we met." I reason as a light bulb goes off in Renji's head.

"Oh yeah! You said that you met the Captains last night!" Renji exclaims.

"It was quite a night I must say. I still remember how Captain Kurosaki declared you as the next Captain of squad 10." Ginrei reminisces.

"You're gonna be the Captain of squad 10?!" Renji shouts.

"Calm down. Captain Kurosaki was merely joking." I said before turning to Ginrei. "He was joking… right?"

"Most likely, but don't let that stop you from trying to become a Captain." Ginrei said.

"Of course not." I reply with a smirk.

"I bet that I'll become a Captain before you!" Renji says with a smirk.

"Do you even know the name of your zanpakutō?" Ginrei asks.

"Uh, no, but he doesn't either." Renji protests to which I nod in agreement.

"I should've expected as much since you two have just entered the Academy. Well then, have either of you heard weird voices in your head or had a weird dream lately?" Ginrei asks, a bit hopeful.

Renji shakes his head, but I nod, remembering the dream I had before establishing my Fool social link.

Ginrei smiles. "That's the first step all Soul Reapers take to communicating with their zanpakutō." Ginrei then pauses and it looks like an idea pops into his head. "How about, in return for aiding my grandson, you get lessons on communicating with your zanpakutō from me. No better tutor than a Captain after all."

Renji and I look at each other, think what to do. While it might be good training, it could be very rigorous.

"I think it's an excellent idea." A woman's says. All three of us turn to see Byakuya returning with Hisana leaning on him.

"Hisana, I thought I told you that you should be resting." Ginrei says, slightly annoyed.

"I know, but I want to meet my sister's friends." Hisana says with her voice sounding very tired.

"Speaking of Rukia, how is she?" Renji asks, concerned for his friend.

"Still resting. Finding her sister and then watching her pass out must have been a huge shock." Byakuya answers.

"Not surprised." Renji says and sighs.

"Back to what we were talking about, how about my offer?" Ginrei asks again.

"I think it's a good idea. I would like to talk with my sister's friends. To know what she's like now." Hisana says.

Renji and I look at each other before nodding. "We accept." I say after turning to look back at Ginrei.

"Well then, I expect to see you back here at the Kuchiki Manor after classes are over. For now, I'll just give a quick lesson." Ginrei says as he motions us to follow him into a part of the Manor which was a large dojo. "Do you know what Jinzen is?" He asked us when all of us entered.

"Isn't it that stuff that-" I decided to stop Renji before he says something stupid and cover his mouth.

"No sir, we don't." I say as I remove my hand and Renji gives me a glare.

"Jinzen is a form of meditation where one takes on a meditative stance and attempts to communicate with their zanpakutō. After taking the meditative stance, you then place your sword over your lap or stabbed into the ground in front of you, either one works. After concentrating, you should be able to enter your subconscious and communicate with your zanpakutō. However, it doesn't always work on the first try, but practice makes perfect. I know this for a fact after seeing Byakuya preform Jinzen so many times that I swore that's how he sleeps."

I look at Byakuya whose face went red with embarrassment. "That was one time grandfather."

"Wait." Renji said. "You fell asleep while mediating?!" Renji that started to burst out laughing. I swore a vein popped on top of Byakuya's forehead.

"No, he went into his meditating position while asleep!" Ginrei said as Byakuya's face became redder than Orpheus' scarf.

"That's even lamer!" Renji exclaimed while pointing at Byakuya.

"Byakuya, don't." Hisana said as I noticed that Byakuya's hand was over the handle of his zanpakutō.

"Well then, I think it's time for you to practice." Ginrei said, snapping Renji out of his laughing fit and simultaneously stopping Byakuya from adding a pineapple-shaped head to their mantle. "Just meditate here for a couple of hours. If done properly, those few hours will seem like a few minutes. Byakuya, why don't you join them? I'm sure you could use some practice after all. Your Bankai still needs a few more final touches."

"Bankai?" Renji and I both ask.

"The ultimate form a Soul Reaper can achieve with their zanpakutō." Ginrei explained. "But you don't need to worry about that for now. You have yet to learn your zanpakutōs' names so Bankai is still a distance away from you." Ginrei said before leaving with Hisana to take her to her room. However, Ginrei stopped at the door. "You can come in, sister of my daughter-in-law."

The door slid opened and Rukia walked into the dojo. "I want to practice also."

"Rukia, are you ok now?" Renji asked to which Rukia sighed.

"I suppose, but even now it's still weird." Rukia said looking at Hisana, who looked at her worriedly. "However, I think things will be ok." Rukia said before smiling. "I just need to accept it, that's all."

Hisana gave a sigh of relief as Ginrei helped her out the door before giving the ok to preform Jinzen to Rukia. When the door closed Renji, Rukia, and myself looked at Byakuya for a visual demonstration who just sighed. Byakuya pulled out his zanpakutō and then sat down on the ground with his legs crossed, we all followed soon after. He then let his zanpakutō lie down across his legs, another thing we mimicked. Byakuya closed his eyes and began to meditate, or sleep, can't really tell.

"Ready partner?" Renji said to his zanpakutō before he closed his eyes.

"Here goes nothing." I heard Rukia say before I assume she closes her eyes.

'Well then let's go meet my zanpakutō.' I thought, getting a bunch of yeses from my personae. I then closed my eyes and let myself relax.

One minute passes: nothing.

Five minutes passes: nothing.

Ten minutes passes: nothing.

"Argh! This isn't working!" Renji shouted. "My zanpakutō won't even talk to me!" I tried my best to ignore him, but he was being louder than Junpei when he was boasting about his self-proclaimed, probably mutual though, girlfriend: Chidori. Shame she died, but back to the matter at hand, Renji was being annoying.

"Quiet you fool. If you keep on yelling at your zanpakutō, then not only will you make it not want to talk to you more, but you'll prevent us from communicating with our zanpakutōs." Byakuya said. I didn't know if his eyes were open at the time because my eyes were still closed.

_I bet they'll be good friends someday._

'Why's that, Jack'

_Opposites attract, right?_

'I suppose so. Now silence, I need to concentrate.' I reply as I begin to relax my muscles and my mind. At first I could hear Renji and Byakuya arguing, but it began to get quieter. Eventually I couldn't hear it anymore and I knew it was ok to open my eyes. When I did, I found myself standing in the middle of the Tartarus lobby. Looking around, I noticed that the barrier blocking the way up was no longer there.

_What are you doing? Climb._

"Huh?" I said, looking around for the source of the voice, but to no success.

_Keep climbing, that's why you obtained power, isn't it?_

"What do you mean?" I asked.

_Climb and I'll tell you._

I decided to comply and walked through the door. Beyond it, I found an exact replica of a floor from the first block of Tartarus. However, there was one difference. The floors were made up of tiles that took the shape of Tarot cards.

_Don't just stand there gawking, keep moving forward!_

This voice was seriously getting on my nerves, but I pressed on. As I continued, I noticed that there were cracks in some of the Tarot cards. "Why do these cards have cracks?"

_When you hesitate, you stop on your journey. Your power doesn't desire this and struggles to fight against your decision to stop._

"When have I ever stopped?"

_When you thought about your actions. When you thought how cruel it was that you were using your friends as a means for the end._

"Of course it was!" I reasoned. "Who would be ok with making false friendships for the sake of power?!"

_You would be, or were at least. You haven't attempted to intentionally forge and strengthen bonds with people. You did so when you were alive and look at the power you possessed! The power of the Universe!_

"I never desired that power."

_But you didn't reject it either. Your power's method of evolving is a cruel one, this is true. However, this doesn't give you the right to forsake it. The denizens of your soul that rely on your power to be summoned cry in agony at your refusal to satisfy them. When you decide to stop being selfish and start thinking about your personae, we can talk again._

"But-" I tried to protest, but a rumbling sound could be heard as Tartarus began to shake.

_Your visit here has come to an end. Next time, I hope you understand your errors._

I wanted to comment, but the cracks in the floor grew until it shattered beneath my feet with the sound of glass breaking. I fell through into the darkness below and immediately opened my eyes as I find myself leaning against a wall I wasn't leaning against before I entered Jinzen.

"Are you ok, Minato?" I heard Byakuya ask. I look and notice that in between Byakuya's hands was Renji's zanpakutō blade with Renji wielding said zanpakutō in an attempt to cleave Byakuya in two. However, no matter how much strength he put in, Byakuya was able to prevent Renji's sword from coming any closer.

"Yeah, how long was I unresponsive?" I asked, noticing Rukia bound to the wall by six yellow, rectangular sheets of light, snoring.

"Well…" Byakuya began.

**Third Person P.O.V.**

"Argh! This isn't working!" Renji shouted. "My zanpakutō won't even talk to me!"

"Quiet you fool. If you keep on yelling at your zanpakutō, then not only will you make it not want to talk to you more, but you'll prevent us from communicating with our zanpakutōs." Byakuya said.

"Why don't you stop acting all high and mighty, right Minato?" Renji turns to look at Minato, but sees him unresponsive. In fact, if one didn't look close enough; people would question whether or not Minato was _alive_.

"Why don't you act like Minato instead? While you were complaining, Minato was able to successfully enter his subconscious." Byakuya said, glad someone here besides him was competent.

"Why don't you shut up? I've only known you for an hour and I'm already tired of your high and mighty attitude!" Renji then stood up wielding his zanpakutō to which Byakuya did the same. "Let's get him Rukia!" Renji said, going to his second friend for support.

Byakuya and Renji both look at Rukia who was in the same state as Minato. At this, Byakuya smirks slightly, but not enough for Renji to notice, while Renji's jaw drops so hard it almost dislocated itself.

"Would you look at that? Seems like-" Byakuya tried to say, boasting about his newfound sister-in-law. However, he was interrupted by snoring, snoring that came from said sister-in-law.

Renji walked closer to Rukia and examined her. He then slightly tapped her on the forehead and she fell over on the floor. She then snuggled up with her zanpakutō, without cutting herself surprisingly, and stayed like that, snoring softly.

A vein popped on Byakuya's forehead as he pointed his left index finger at Rukia. "Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six." Byakuya said nonchalantly as yellow energy concentrated in front of his finger. "Bakudō 61: Rikujōkōrō." A sheet of yellow energy shot from Byakuya's hand as it split into six sheets, struck Rukia, and, with her attached to the sheets of energy, stabbed into the wall, pinning Rukia to it. Rukia, however, was still asleep with all that happened.

"She's always been a heavy sleeper." Renji says, after recovering from the awe he felt from what Byakuya just did.

"With your constant yelling, I wouldn't be surprised Byakuya states, earning a glare from Renji.

"Why you!" Renji says as he charges Byakuya with his zanpakutō.

"Your form is sloppy." Byakuya says as he swats Renji's blade away with his own. "No concentration, no precision, just brute strength. Those barbarians at squad 11 would welcome you with open arms." Byakuya says with a superior attitude.

"Don't you dare talk high and mighty to me!" Renji shouts as he charges Byakuya again. Byakuya just sighs as he sheathes his zanpakutō. Right before Renji's strike cleaved Byakuya in two, Byakuya's hands caught the blade in mid-flight, surprising Renji, but not enough to back off. Renji continued to press down, but stopped slightly when they heard a crashing sound. Byakuya and Renji look to see Minato up against a wall he was a good couple feet from a few seconds ago.

"Are you ok, Minato?" Byakuya asked as Minato opened his eyes.

**Minato P.O.V.**

"I see." I say as Byakuya explains all that happened during my time in my inner world.

"'I see?' This guy insulted me! I'm gonna teach him a lesson." Renji declared as he put more strength into his attack. However, Byakuya, with a quick movement of his hands, lets go of Renji's sword and moves out of the way, causing Renji to fall over from applying to much force in his attack.

"Huh?" I heard Rukia say. Seems like being pinned to a wall forcefully couldn't wake her up, but someone falling to the ground with a light 'thud' can. "Could someone please explain to me why I'm bound to a wall?"

"Long story." I say as Byakuya disables whatever he did to Rukia and she lands on the floor.

Just then, the door opens to reveal Ginrei outside. He observes the scene of me still lying against the wall I apparently got blasted into when my zanpakutō forced me out, Rukia standing in front of the wall that had six, thin holes in it from when she was bound to it, Renji lying face down on the ground with his zanpakutō stabbed into the ground next to him, and Byakuya standing right next to Renji.

Ginrei sighs and says "I thought I'd check what the commotion was, but it seems like it was just Byakuya making new friends."

"Grandfather!" Byakuya says surprised.

"Aww… little Byakuya wants someone to play with." Renji says after he rolls onto his back. However, before Renji could get up, he found his own zanpakutō's blade almost touching his neck. It's then revealed that the one threatening to slay Renji is Byakuya.

"I would advise that it's not the greatest of ideas to make fun of the next head of the Kuchiki Clan." Byakuya says before stabbing the blade back into the floor.

"I hope you know that you'll be paying for that, Byakuya." Ginrei says sternly to which Byakuya nods.

I look at the sky behind Ginrei and notice that it's already getting late. "I believe we should go now. Wouldn't want to miss curfew." I say as I stood up.

"Of course. Byakuya, would you please escort them to the exit? I have my Captain's duties that I must attend to now." Ginrei said before he vanished.

The walk back to the entrance and exit of the Kuchiki Manor was a silent one. Renji and Rukia were walking on ahead, talking about the events that occurred today. I planned to join them when a hand fell upon my shoulder. I turn around to see that it was Byakuya's hand resting upon my shoulder.

"Yes Byakuya?"

"I…I just want to apologize again for my attempt to take your life."

"Like I said, don't worry about that." I said, waving it off.

Byakuya seems to smirk slightly at this. "You're interesting, you know that? You don't even mind the fact that your head was almost rolling on the streets of the Seireitei, you don't seem to mind many things really, as if almost nothing in this world interests you."

"It's just how I look. I still care about things."

"I'll take your word on it. If you ever need a place to recuperate or want a tranquil place to practice Jinzen, the Kuchiki Manor's doors will be open for you." Byakuya said before smiling. "It's the least I could do for someone who helped my wife find her sister."

I'd like to point out I didn't really do anything, but that'd just ruin the moment. "Anytime."

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana…_

Seems like Byakuya here has a strong sense of right and wrong. Now, give me my angel!

_It is I, Archangel, who has returned to, Lord Minato._

'Make yourself at home then, Archangel.'

_Thank you, Lord Minato._

"Well, I must be going, don't want to be late for curfew." I tell Byakuya after welcoming Archangel.

"Of course, farewell Minato." Byakuya says as I turn around to leave with my new link and persona. While thinking about this, my mind ended up drifting to my conversation with my zanpakutō.

_'Your power's method of evolving is a cruel one, this is true. However, this doesn't give you the right to forsake it.'_

Those two lines my zanpakutō said keep swimming around in my head. I don't want to admit it, but my zanpakutō's right. No matter how much I despise it, my strength is based off my bonds with people, no matter how fake they might be.

**_Is that really what you, whose greatest power was forged off those bonds, should be saying? You disappoint me, young one._**

I instantly stop in my tracks. The voice I heard sounded like none of my personae so I then look around, but saw no one even remotely nearby. Deciding to conclude I was hearing things, I continued along my way to catch up with Renji and Rukia.

* * *

I know some of you might've thought that Ichigo would be Justice, but I thought Byakuya would fit the arcana better. Don't worry though, Ichigo will still be a link.

I hope none of you have any complaints about what Minato's zanpakutō was saying, but would anyone seriously make those links if it wasn't necessary for them to level up to get those ultimate persona and whatnot?

Well, that's all for now, goodbye!


	7. Chapter 7

I have decided to try something I haven't done before: respond to reviewers.

**DemonRaily**: The life of the social links really were like those in storybooks. Then again, ATLUS probably wanted us to listen to an exciting story rather than some simple life.

**Selias**: You're completely right, they do add to the story and make it interesting. However, I wouldn't find them high on the priorities list if social links weren't so strongly connected to the personae you use. That's really just my opinion though. For the shikai and bankai, don't worry. I've figured out a wonderful way in which Minato can use any of his personae in either form. Something completely unexpected.

**Frostfire613**: Don't worry, all of the social links will be maxed out eventually, Byakuya is no exception.

**Think Again**: Thanks for the support and his zanpakuto will look very familiar.

**kyothefallenkit**: Don't worry here's some more to read! :D

**HellPwnage1337**: I'm trying to take it slow so that the story can develop a bit more. The ball will get rolling soon so don't worry.

Expect the response to reviews to be at the end of the chapter from now on.

* * *

Chapter 7: Kidō Chaos

By the time Rukia, Renji, and I made it back to the Academy, there was still one hour left before curfew. Deciding to check up on Igor and possibly Elizabeth, I made my way to the Velvet Room, but Renji wanted to talk to me about my time in my subconscious and since he's unaware of the glowing, blue door that faces our room I had to postpone my visit.

"So, how was it?" Renji asked as we entered our room.

"Could you be specific?" I asked as I closed the door behind me.

"What was your inner world like?"

"Well…it's a bit hard to describe. Elaborate would be a good word to describe it though." I couldn't really say it's based off a tower that existed during a 25th hour of the day so I just winged it and hoped he bought it.

"Sounds pretty cool." He bought it. "Man, I wonder why my zanpakutō wouldn't talk to me."

"Maybe you weren't concentrating enough. Besides, I didn't even see my zanpakutō in my inner world, I just heard his voice. As long as you keep going at it, I'm certain you'll find your zanpakutō's name."

"Thanks for the support." Renji lied down on his bed while I sat down on mine. "Wonder what my zanpakutō looks like. Maybe a snake."

"A snake?"

"Yeah, I always liked snakes. They're pretty cool. Baboons are also cool. Wonder if my zanpakutō is a snake _and_ a baboon. That would be pretty cool."

"I'm certain it would be."

"What do you think your zanpakutō looks like?"

"Well, if I had to guess…hmm…" I truly did not know what to say. I figured that my zanpakutō would look like a persona, but I couldn't say that. Got it! "A guy with a badass sword or maybe twin pistols." After thinking about everything I've gone through, I'd say Thanatos and the Reaper were among the top ten creatures that I consider cool. Yes, I think the Reaper is cool, don't judge me.

"Sounds like you're gonna go on a rampage somewhere and destroy a lot of things." Renji joked. "Speaking of destruction, have you heard of the Captain of squad 11, Kenpachi Zaraki?"

"He wasn't there when I met the other Captains so no."

"I heard he's insanely strong. Rumors say that he defeated the 10th Kenpachi without using bankai."

"Really now?" This slightly interested me. "What did you mean by 10th Kenpachi?"

"I asked the same thing when I heard the rumor. Kenpachi is an additional title the Captain of Squad 11 receives. Apparently the next Captain of squad 11 is customarily chosen as the winner of a death match between the challenger and the Captain of squad 11. Captain Zaraki became the 11th Kenpachi after he defeated the previous Kenpachi."

"And what's so special about this?"

"He defeated the previous Kenpachi in _one _swing of his sword!"

This got my attention. Retsu said that squad 11 was the most physical oriented squad of them all. This would mean that the Captain of squad 11 would be the strongest fighter of them all and someone beat said Captain in one blow.

_It would be best if you stay on this Captain Zaraki's good side._

'No shit Hypnos.' I replied.

Before Renji could talk about the 11th squad Captain any further, a large fireball could be seen from outside our room. "Time to get to class." I sighed as we left.

Apparently we were the last two to enter because the seats left were ours. "Greetings everyone, I'll be your instructor for today." A familiar man with glasses and short, chestnut hair said in front of the class.

"Good morning Captain Aizen." I said, being polite.

"Ah, how nice to see you again Minato." Sōsuke responded with a kind smile. "Now then, today's lesson will be covering kidō. Kidō is a Soul Reaper's best tool when you don't have your zanpakutō alongside Hakuda. It's quite common for someone to excel in one or the other, but for today we'll just focus on kidō. Now, if you all would follow me to the training area." Sōsuke said as he led us to an open, grassy area with targets in the distance. The place reminded me of the archery range that Gekkoukan had. Standing in the range was a slightly tall man with silver hair and kept his eyes constantly. He had a smile on his face that almost screamed 'raping time', but I'm not one to judge. According to Yukari and sometimes Junpei, right before I summon a persona, I sometimes smile in a way that Junpei calls my 'rape face.' One time, Aigis asked what 'rape face' meant and ended up spending a good portion of the Dark Hour explaining it to her in a way that doesn't explain the meaning to her. Thankfully, the Reaper decided to pop up, giving us an excuse to end the conversation.

"Everyone, this is my Lieutenant, Gin Ichimaru." Sōsuke said as the man called Gin waved at us.

Gin then walked over and stared at us. Actually, I couldn't say 'stare' since he never opened his eyes. He then looked at Sōsuke, pointed at me, and said with a slithery tone "I like this one."

_That didn't sound right._

'Not at all.' I responded as Renji's face said the same thing.

"Please don't misunderstand. Gin just has a good eye for potential and friends." Sōsuke said, attempting to calm us down, but the 'friends' part just made some people more nervous.

"Name's Gin, what's yours?" Gin asked to apparently me.

"Minato Arisato." I responded.

"Hmm…" Gin seemed to be thinking of something.

_Maybe he's wondering if he should rape you or not._

'Shut it Jack! I'm sure he doesn't do that anyway.' I snapped back.

Gin then turned to Sōsuke and said "He's a keeper." I think some of the girls fainted at that. Damn yaoi fangirls **(in case you didn't know, yaoi means boys love). **

"Now, we'll first teach you Hadō, the offensive side of kidō. All hadō spells require an incantation to be recited before activation for the spell to work at full power. Some are long and you will have to memorize and recite them perfectly for it to work." Many students groaned at this. "Of course, it is possible to bypass the incantation all together, but the spell will be weaker and possible unstable so I don't recommended it. Now, we will give each of you a piece of paper that has the incantation spell for a hadō spell. You won't know which one it is until you open it, but the highest one here is #33."

"C'mon! Let's see them fireworks!" Gin said clapping his hands as Sōsuke gave the people in front pieces of paper. They took one and passed the rest to the people behind him.

"Now, has everyone gotten a piece of paper?" Nods from us responded. "Good, please line up here. I'll give all of you one minute to read the incantation before I start calling on people to demonstrate." All of us stood on the line as Sōsuke instructed. I was in-between Renji and Izuru. "Begin."

"Hey, which one did you get?" Renji asked me. "I got #31, Shakkahō."

"I got #1, Shō." Izuru said, apparently depressed at how he got the easiest one.

"I got…" I began as I opened my paper. "…#33, Sōkatsui."

"Damn, that's harsh." Renji said.

"I've dealt with harsher." I responded as I read the incantation written below the number.

"All right, Renji Abarai, please demonstrate your kidō." Sōsuke said.

"With pleasure." Renji said as he held out his right palm and grabbed his right wrist with his left hand. "Hadō #31, Shakkahō!" Renji shouted as a mass of red energy materialized right in front of Renji's palm and- BOOM. –exploded in his face. Renji fell back a few feet and lied down on the ground.

"Thank you Renji for displaying what can happen when you bypass an incantation." Sōsuke says, earning a few snickers. "Izuru Kira, would you please demonstrate what happens when you say the incantation?"

I look to Izuru who was reading the paper that held the incantation for Shakkahō. When he looked up, he dropped the paper and nodded. He took the same stance Renji did before he did his attempt to bypass the incantation.

Izuru took a deep breath and chanted. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō #31, Shakkahō!" Izuru shouted as a mass of red energy swirled and focused around his right palm like Renji's did. However, Izuru's Shakkahō was bigger and didn't explode. Instead, after increasing to a certain size, it launched from Izuru's hand and barreled towards a target. The red energy exploded the moment it hit the target, leaving a burnt mark.

"Wonderful, that will be considered your attempt so you don't have to go a second time. Now Minato, your turn." Sōsuke said as everyone's attention turned from Izuru to me.

I took a deep breath and took the same stance. "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!"

"Minato, stop!" Someone shouted, but I couldn't figure out whom as I was focusing on my chant.

"Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." I just noticed that concentrating in front of my palm was a massive amount of blue energy that was crackling, begging to be fired to let loose havoc. I was compelled to obey its plea. "Hadō #33, Sōkatsui!" I shouted as the energy roared from my hands and shot out. Overall, the blast was spherical, but energy shot out from it like blue lightning, scorching the ground at times. When my attack hit the target, it went straight through it, vaporizing the target and exploded when it hit the wall behind the target, leaving a crater.

"Dammit Minato, you could've killed someone!" I recognized the voice as Renji. I turned around to see everyone standing a couple yards away from me. Renji, Rukia, and Izuru were the only ones who weren't so far back. "Didn't you hear me say stop?"

"Sorry, guess I was too into the zone." I reply as I notice that the grass within a 1 foot radius of me was scorched by my attack.

"I must say, for an incantation recited hadō, that attack looked crazier than Kenpachi when he's having fun." Gin said looking at the path of destruction my Sōkatsui caused and whistled.

"Now Gin, don't blame Minato. Sōkatsui is the hardest of the novice level spells and for the very first kidō he has casted, he did a remarkable job." Sōsuke said.

"Thank you Captain Aizen." I said before my world went black.

**Third Person P.O.V.**

"Minato? Minato!" Renji shouted as he started to shake Minato violently.

"It seems like he's collapsed." Sōsuke said as he appeared before the unconscious Minato. "I'll take him to the Academy's infirmary. Gin, please direct the class while I'm gone." Sōsuke said as he picked Minato up and placed him over his shoulder.

"Aye, aye, Capitan Aizen!" Gin said before looking at the other students. "Ok! Let's continue shall we?"

Sōsuke quickly appeared at the infirmary. The staff there placed Minato in a bed saying that he just needs rest right now and food when he wakes up. Sōsuke, acting like the kind and caring Captain that he was, smiled and nodded. When the staff left, Sōsuke sat down in a chair and looked at Minato with a smirk on his face.

"Scheming much?" A voice said to which Aizen recognized as Gin. "Don't worry I placed barriers here so no one can so or hear us. I put that Izuru guy in charge of class as I went to 'checkup' on Minato and my Captain."

"Clever as always, aren't you, Gin?" Aizen said as he took off his glasses and letting the mask of a gentle person fall away for that of a cold and sinister one.

"I wasn't called a genius for nothing." Gin said before looking at Minato. "So it's true then?"

"Indeed it is." Sōsuke said. "At first I didn't believe it when I overheard the conversation between Retsu, Shunsui, Jūshirō, and Yamamoto, but after examining his spiritual pressure, it's true."

"Huh, this one would be a nice addition wouldn't he?" Gin said.

"I can see it in his eyes, he's bored with life. I suspect that there was something in his time alive that never made a single day boring. If I can convince him that I have something that can bring back his drive, he will surely follow me." Sōsuke concluded.

"Are you sure that he's just really tired or that's just how he looks?" Gin inquired.

"If that's true then I'll just simply manipulate him like I'm doing with my 18th seat." Sōsuke responded.

"If it wasn't for the fact I'm a cold-hearted person, I'd feel sorry for that Momo girl." Gin chuckled.

"A pawn is a pawn, it doesn't matter who it is. Once they fulfill their purpose, they're less than trash."

"Does that mean you view Minato as a pawn?"

"Yes, but to be more specific, I'd say a pawn a few moves away from a promotion. A promotion that might produce a king."

"If he's the one with a chance to be king, then what are you?"

"What else? The player who has complete control over the pieces of course."

"Oh phooey, now I feel left out." Gin tried his best to look depressed, but his smile prevented him.

"Don't worry Gin, I still consider you one of my pawns." Sōsuke said.

"Was that supposed to cheer me up or prevent me from getting my hopes up?"

Before Sōsuke could answer, a groan could be heard which they saw to be coming from Minato. "Seems like Minato is waking up." Sōsuke said as he dispelled Gin's barrier with a flick of his wrist.

"I'll go check up on the kiddies." Gin said as he left with Sōsuke following after, but to get the nurse instead.

**Minato P.O.V.**

"Where am I?" I said to myself. "Last thing I remember was passing out from casting that Hadō spell." I looked around, but all I saw was darkness.

_Right now you're unconscious._

"Oh great, it's you again." I said as I sighed. The darkness that surrounded me faded to what looked like a combination of the second and third blocks. I began to walk forward as I knew I would be pestered if I didn't.

_You don't sound happy._

"You're the one who dropped me down into an abyss last time I was here."

_It's your fault that that was the only way to kick you out. Your inner world, your fault._

"Someone's certainly more talkative today." I noted. I swore I heard my zanpakutō sigh.

_Why didn't you link with Gin?_

"I could have?"

_He has potential and his arcana number is vacant at the moment._

"Well he has that rape-"

_I know, you have one too, but that's beside the point. What I want to say is that it doesn't mean that's all to him. Remember your Moon link, Nozomi? At first you found him somewhat disgusting, with his overeating and 'tummy emergences', but near the end of the link you understood him and saw him as a friend._

"Guess your right on that part, but that doesn't mean I'll be going around all of Soul Society looking for links."

_I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to make links, period. That's all I ask for._

"Can I have some time to consider this?"

_Don't see why, but very well. In the meantime, someone wants to talk to you._

"Who?" I ask as the area gets darker and darker. Soon, everything reverted to darkness like how it was when I first came here. I fight a glow on my back and turn around. "No way…" I said as I stared at a giant full moon glowing brilliantly.

**_Hello young one._**

I recognize the voice as the one from last night. Now, hearing it again, I remember when I last heard that voice. "It can't be, you…you're supposed to be-"

**_You're still a part of the Great Seal, the keystone in fact. That woman called Elizabeth overlooked the fact the fact that I'd be sealed in you if this were to happen._**

Minato stared at the moon with disbelief as the moon's surface began to crack. The outer layers pulled back like a flower in the process of blooming. Underneath the surface was the last thing Minato wanted to see, a mechanical-like structure with a giant, red eye as its core.

"Nyx." Minato said when he recovered from shock.

**_Been a while since we last talked, young one._**

"A long and peaceful while at that."

**_You still mad?_**

"How could I not be? You…you…you made fun of my hair!" I complained. During my time as the Great Seal, Nyx actually talked with me. I learned that she (Nyx is a she even though she doesn't have a female body apparently) doesn't want to end humanity, but it's kind of in a contract of sorts that says that if Erebus comes in contact with her she has to bring about The Fall. We ended up coming to a mutual understanding of sorts. To a point where we might even be considered friends, but the battle scars that came from the battle against her/Ryoji when they were the Nyx Avatar still run deep. All in all, we can't say we're enemies, but there are still issues that need to be settled before we can call each other friends.

**_All I said was that it was irregular._**

"Same thing. Now, what are you doing here?"

**_I thought I already ex-_**

"I meant why are you here as in why are you talking to me now?"

**_I wanted to say that I'm disappointed in you, young one._**

"Is this about the social links hiatus?"

**_Indeed. Your ultimate power, the power of the Universe, was forged from your social links. Why can't you see you need them?_**

"I've been doing fine without them since I came here." I responded.

**_Those creatures called Hollows might be easy, but what will you do when something stronger shows up? You defeated me with your ultimate personae, but you can't get those personae without 'maxing out' your social links._**

"I doubt there'll come a time when I'll be in need of my ultimate personae."

**_At least understand this, the time will come and should be ready for it._**

"Why so concerned about my safety? If I die, then you'll be free."

**_You interest me, young one. You prove that humanity doesn't want Death and I want you to keep on fighting, struggling to live. There, I said my piece._**

_Ok, time's up._

"What?" I ask, but I never get a response because immediately start falling down into the darkness below me…again.

* * *

In case people are wondering why Minato's Sokatsui was going crazy...I'm not telling! Actually, you'll find out in the next chapter.

I'm bringing Nyx into the story because she'll play a key role in a certain arc. Which arc I won't say. I find Nyx to actually be a nice person, or goddess if you want to get technical, and believe that she wouldn't be so bad if Erebus didn't tell her to go slaughter humanity. In all truth, I actually got a crazy idea for a MinatoxNyx (Minyx for short) fanfic, but I changed my mind.

Well that's all for now, bye!

P.S. The Minyx idea I just came up with.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for the wait everyone! I lost my progress and had to start over and school didn't help. This chapter begins with the explanation of Minato's spell and I'm not sure if I did a good job. I'll put a second explanation at the end for this who didn't understand.

* * *

Chapter 8: First Contact

**Minato P.O.V.**

When I returned to the courtyard, I learned that everyone was worried about me. Rukia says Renji was freaking out the whole time, to which Renji said Rukia did the same. They both ended up arguing about it while Izuru informed me of what happened when I passed out.

"By the way…" Izuru said after he finished speaking about the lessons. "…how did you put out so much power anyway? When I detected you the first time, you certainly didn't have that much and I don't think you could've gotten a tremendous amount of power in a few days."

"Not really sure myself." I respond truthfully.

_I think I might know, Master._

'Please tell me Orpheus.'

_I suppose the best way to explain it would be calling it a 'side effect.'_

'Of what exactly?'

_Us. Remember how your strength increased when you equipped a persona with high strength as your primary?_

'Yeah, but if you're going to say that it was amped due to a persona with high magic, then it can't be true since, no offence, none of you were the strongest of the personae I had.'

_True, but you once did have personae of high magic. Messiah, for example, had high magic and you kept him a lot._

'Of course. Wait, are you saying that the effects the personae gave me are still lingering?'

_Yes, all persona wielders have this. However, they only have one persona, so the influences the persona gives to their master isn't great, about 5% of their power becomes a part of their master. This is true for you also, but this is 5% per personae, so with the constant stacking of power, you've become quite powerful._

'I don't feel that powerful. It's not like I'm crushing bones with a slight squeeze or anything'

_The side effects only occur when in battle or preforming an attack with intent to kill or destroy. That's why it didn't happen when you were sparing. That hadō, I believe it was called hadō anyway; spell was affected by the side effects and was altered as a result._

'Didn't look so much altered as it did a ziodyne.'

_That's because your exposure to personae power made it as such. To be specific, it could be considered a fusion of ziodyne and the hadō spell._

'So I can cast amped up versions of kidō? Sweet.'

_Please be careful though. If I remember correctly you spent a good deal of time with Helel and Satan in your list of main personae. The last thing this world needs is an Armageddon fused hadō spell._

'As interesting as that might look and be, you're right on that account Orpheus.'

**_I disagree. Use everything you got if you ask me._**

'Nyx?!' I was so surprised at this newcomer's voice that it must've shown on my face.

"You ok Minato?" Izuru asked me.

"Yeah, might be backlash from the spell." I said, coming up with an excuse. "I think it might just be fatigue though. I'll be fine."

"I see." Izuru said as I noticed Sōsuke walking to the front of the courtyard.

"You have about ten minutes of free time until the next class is ready. Until then, you're allowed to mingle with each other. Lieutenant Ichimaru will tell you when it's time to go." Sōsuke said his piece and just left.

"Well then," Izuru began. "You want to hang out until our next class starts?"

"Sure." I said.

_Yeah! Time for a rank up!_

**_About time I must say._**

'Oh shut up. Honestly, you're still as annoying as when I was the Seal.'

**_Hey! I resent that! I wasn't as annoying back then. After all, there was something to…past the time._**

_What did you do?_

**_Well Jack Frost, sometimes when either Minato or I were bored or depressed, I would take a human form and we would-_**

'Hey, hey, hey! No one needs to hear that!'

_Now I'm interested._

_So am I._

_I think all of us are._

**_The majority has spoken, Minato._**

I could've sworn I saw her smug smile. 'All of you are me, there is no majority!'

**_Fine, fine, be that way._**

I'm glad I was able to mellow Nyx out. It seemed like all she needed to deal with the stress of being the one to end the world was 'fine' company.

"Are you coming Minato?" Izuru asked a few feet ahead of me. I took a few, quick strides and began to talk to Izuru about menial things like the classes we had and the Seireitei as a whole as we just walked and talked around the courtyard.

"So…" I decided to bring the conversation to something important. "…why did you become a Soul Reaper?"

"I told you, didn't I? I want to make my parents proud."

"Ah, you're right." I nodded at my remembering.

"My parents, they're long gone now, but I'll make sure I'll honor their memory becoming an excellent Soul Reaper!" Izuru declared proudly.

"Just don't get overconfident." I cautioned. This guy can act like Junpei at times and that's not always a good thing.

"Of course not. I'll have you to hold my act together." Izuru chuckled.

SMASH

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana…_

Another day, another rank I suppose.

_Hey! I'm very happy you decided to rank me up! I'm level three now!_

'Good for you Jack.' I mentally rolled my eyes.

**_I think you need to be more outgoing though. There are other people you can level up._**

'True, but two of them are Captains so I probably won't see them much until I graduate, one's a noble so it would be very difficult to see him without getting kicked off the premises, I don't know where Shūhei is most of the time, one is with someone I doubt I'll see while in the Academy, and I have no idea how to level up the Fool really, that one just came naturally.'

**_Seems to me that a majority of your problems will be solved if you graduate._**

_I agree with Nyx. Wow, never thought I'd say that._

'You'll get over it Orpheus.'

"Hey! Wait for us!" Someone called out, breaking me away from my talk. Izuru and I turned around to see Renji and Rukia running towards us. We ended up talking about the classes and how Renji totally screwed up his hadō spell. Renji went on to say that he'll join Squad 11 where kidō is practically taboo there. Rukia then says that he won't be able to escape the need for kidō even if he does join Squad 11. Izuru said that he really prefers kidō over zanjutsu and is considering Squad 4 to become proficient in it.

"Why not join Squad 5 then?" A feminine voice said behind us. We turn around to see a short woman (still taller than Rukia though) with black hair with some of it tied up into a bun on the back with the bun wrapped in a cloth. "Squad 5 is a good place for kidō practitioners to become better."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I ask.

"Oh! My apologies. My name is Momo Hinamori. I'm the 18th seat of Squad 5." Momo quickly bowed as a sign of apologizing.

"Well then, what was this you were saying about joining Squad 5?" Izuru asked.

"Well, Squads 4, 5, and 6 are the main kidō squads. Squad 4 uses them for medical purposes, Squad 6 uses the bakudō side of kidō mostly, but is well known for excelling in hadō 31, 33, and 73. However, Squad 5 is well known for being an all-rounder of kidō. While we don't focus greatly on a specific type, Squad 5's great if you want to be capable in a diversity of spells." Momo finished with a smile.

_Almost sounds like she's advertising her squad._

**_I agree._**

'Sadly, so do I.' I comment before looking at the others. Izuru looks like he's considering, Renji doesn't seem to care much, but is apparently holding onto the thought of joining, and Rukia looks ecstatic for some reason.

"Thanks for the info, but I must ask why are you here?" I decided to be blunt here.

"Oh well I'm-" Momo began, but Gin appeared behind her.

"Ah, ah, ah…" Gin said playfully. "Don't go ruining the surprise now Momo." Gin chuckled before looking at me with that grin on his face.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Why so serious?" Gin asked.

I knew he was playing around so I decided to as well. "Why so happy?"

"Touché" Gin said as he cupped his chin with his right hand before extending it out to me. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

"Or a terrifying disaster." For some reason, it's really easy to joke around with him while still retaining my stoic nature.

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana…_

Hanged Man? Crap, this guy will have to make sacrifices he doesn't want apparently. I feel sorry for him just like Shunsui.

_That is something all representatives of the Hanged Man must deal with. Nothing to be sorry for._

'Who are you?'

_Forgive me, I'm Take-Minakata, your representative for the Hanged Man._

'Well then, welcome.'

_Thank you._

"So tell me Minato." Gin said, bringing my attention to him. "How did you fire off such a powerful Sōkatsui?"

"Trade secret." I played the smug card here.

"Oh really?" I then noticed that Gin's grip around my hand was getting tighter. "What's your secret then?"

I realized at that point what kind of person Gin is. Gin is a good guy, but is like a cold blooded creature that will devour whatever stands in his path. He will be dangerous to deal with and I've got him as a social link. Great.

"A secret worth keeping." I responded. I knew that this will end with either him attacking me or him getting some form of respect from me.

"I see…" Gin's grip on my hand loosened. "…you're an alright guy Minato." Gin let go of my hand.

Seems like I won the latter of my options. "So are you, Gin." I said. Getting a rank up with him might be difficult seeing how one wrong step might get me skewered.

**_Not like this will be your most difficult social link though._**

'How so?'

**_Well, if the stories you told me are correct, I'd figure you'd have a harder time forming a strong link with the previous Hanged Man, that girl Maiko, without people calling you a pedophile._**

'Ugh, that's true, but no one did.'

**_But her father certainly thought it._**

'That's one event that's better off being forgotten.' I replied before I mentally sighed at how Maiko's father read a letter he received from her saying how she'll marry me.

I looked around and apparently everyone was staring at me and Gin. Noticing this, Gin decided to enlighten me. "What you've just done is stand up to a lieutenant. While not even close to being as strong as Captains, lieutenants are strong in their own right. I think everyone here isn't as surprised to our confrontation as it was that you're still alive afterwards."

"You make it sound like you have homicidal tendencies." I replied.

"Maybe I do." Gin chuckled darkly which was amplified by that constant smile he has on his face. I would have been terrified if it wasn't due to the fact that the Nyx Avatar's mask was still scarier.

**_Exactly what I was going for._**

'Good job, you want a cookie or something?' I heard a growl or maybe a grunt signaling her annoyance at my remark, but I wasn't in the mood to hear about how hard she tried to instill total despair onto humanity and specifically the S.E.E.S. squad.

Before my talk with Gin could proceed any further, Sōsuke came back. Gin gave a wave of his hand to me before vanishing and reappearing next to Sōsuke.

"Now class, listen closely." Sōsuke began. "We will be going to the World of the Living." Rumors and small cheers popped up in the group of students. "Squad 12 was created synthetic Hollows for you to do mock combat against. They won't attack living souls or kill you, but will severely injure you." A few more rumors popped up, mostly over whether or not we'll make it out alive. "Don't worry everyone. These pseudo-Hollows will _not_ kill you and if one does malfunction, Lieutenant Ichimaru and I will be nearby to help." Some of the rumors calmed down after that. "Now then, we organized the groups like this." Sōsuke took out a parchment of paper which Gin took and attached to the wall behind them. "Everyone will go in groups of three with one higher level student as their leader and one or two sub-leaders. Lieutenant Ichimaru and I will also be leaders as well as some other seated members of my squad. Find out which group you are in and head to the main entrance of the Academy with them. That is all." Sōsuke finished before he and Gin vanished.

Everyone quickly rushed to see what groups they're in. I noticed that Momo was one of the squad leaders and figured that this was what she was going to say. I looked around a bit until I saw my name.

Group 7  
Leader: Shūhei Hisagi  
Sub-Leaders: Kanisawa Michizuki and Aoga Kanasagi  
Student Members:  
Izuru Kira  
Minato Arisato  
Renji Abarai

"Looks like we're in the same group, huh Minato?" I turn around to see Renji smiling at me.

"Seems like it." I respond.

"Well then, let's head to the entrance." I turn the other way and see Izuru. I nod before the three of us walk to the front entrance.

Over there we saw Sōsuke, Gin, Momo, Shūhei and some other soul reapers conversing with each other. As we walked closer, Shūhei noticed us and waved.

"Hey Minato!" Shūhei waved to which Izuru, Renji, and I walked towards him.

"Hey Shūhei." I reply.

"Heard about your fight with the fourth seat of squad 11 and your hadō spell. I must say never knew you were so good. You've been a hot topic amongst the Captains lately."

"How do you know?" Izuru inquired.

"Captain Kurosaki tells me everything. He's sort of been my mentor, but that's not important. What is important is how some of the Captains are talking about which squad you should join. Captain Kuchiki seems to like you a lot and has been discussing with Captain Kurosaki a lot about which squad you should join."

"Wow, never knew Captains fought over students." Renji said mildly surprised.

"Of course they do! The better the squad, the more respect they get. I use to be in the same position, but I then decided I'll join squad 9 once I graduate."

"Squad 9? That's…Captain Tōsen, right?" I ask trying to remember from my meeting with the Captains.

A quick nod from Shūhei proves I'm right. "Yeah, he says that he'll have a seated position ready once I graduate."

"That's nice to hear." I said.

"Yeah, but according to Captain Kurosaki, the Captains are trying harder than ever to get you. It's not every day that a new kid comes along and is able to get a perfect score on the entrance test, spar on equal ground with a fourth seat soul reaper, and can fire a hadō spell that can vaporize its target. You're this year's prodigy no doubt about it."

"I wouldn't say that." I played the modest card here.

"Just be careful though." Shūhei's voice got low. "The Captains of squads 11 and 12 aren't exactly normal."

I remember that those were the two Captains that I didn't get to meet with the other Captains. "What's wrong with them?"

"Well, the Captain of squad 12 is a total mad scientist. When he finds something interesting, he'll dissect it until he gets bored or can't dissect any more. Captain Kurosaki told me that he's 'interested' in you so be cautious of him."

I nodded, wanting to continue staying in one piece. "What about the Captain of squad 11?"

"He's almost the opposite extreme of the squad 12 Captain. When he hears of a worthy opponent, he wants to fight them. Fight until one of them can't fight any longer and he hasn't lost a fight since. He's insanely strong and when it comes to fights, he doesn't take no for an answer."

"Thanks for the tip." I said.

"I kind of want to meet him." Renji said, making as look at him like he grew a second head.

"Wait, who are you?" Shūhei asks.

"Oh that's right, you three haven't met before. Renji and Izuru, this is Shūhei Hisagi, another student. Shūhei, this is Renji Abarai and Izuru Kira, people who just entered the Academy like me." I said as I introduced them to each other.

"Nice to meet you." Shūhei greeted.

"Same here." Izuru said while Renji just nodded.

"So, which group are you guys in?" Shūhei asks as he looks around at the other groups.

"We're in yours, group 7." I replied.

"Excellent, now I can show you how great I am in leadership." Shūhei said as he pointed to himself with his thumb.

"Like you've ever been able to show that." A woman behind Shūhei said.

"Oh shut up Kanisawa." Shūhei said.

"She's right you know." A man next to the woman said.

Shūhei just groaned. "Well I suppose I should introduce your sub-leaders. The girl is Kanisawa Michizuki and the guy is Aoga Kanasagi."

"Nice to meet you." Aoga said to which Renji, Izuru, and I nodded.

"Attention everyone." Sōsuke said, getting our attention. "We'll now be entering the World of the Living. Please follow us to the Senkaimon and enter when your group number is called on." Sōsuke concluded and led all of us to a giant gate that I figure was the Senkaimon. There were people standing guard next to it, but I couldn't make out their faces because their faces were covered with a white scarf that went down their body.

"Is it time for the expedition now, Captain Aizen?" One of the guards asked.

"Yes, please prepare the Hell Butterflies." Sōsuke said as the guard nodded.

Sōsuke then turned around to face all of us. "This is the Senkaimon, the main form of travel between the World of the Living and the Soul Society. However, it can only be crossed if you have one of these." Sōsuke then raised his left hand and in it was a black butterfly. "These are Hell Butterflies. Every soul reaper needs one if they wish to travel across the Senkaimon safely. Now, when your group is called, proceed to the entrance and wait for the guard to give each of you a Hell Butterfly." The Senkaimon then opened to reveal nothing but white light behind it. Sōsuke and his group, group 1, then walked to the guard who gave each of them a Hell Butterfly and entered through the Senkaimon.

"Group 2." The guard said as Gin and his group step forward. I could've sworn that he gave me a menacing grin before stepping into the light.

"Group 3." The guard said. This is how it went for a couple minutes. Momo was the leader of group 5 apparently and after a few more minutes.

"Group 7." The guard said as Shūhei walked forward.

"Well, that's us." Shūhei said as the six of us walked towards the guard. He gave each of us a Hell Butterfly that started to circle around us, one per person. It made me think of the blue butterfly that I saw before the start of my journey in Iwatodai and before I died on graduation day.

"Ok, time to see the World of the Living." Shūhei said as we all entered the Senkaimon. The experience wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Felt exactly like passing through a door. When we completely passed through the Senkaimon, we found ourselves on top of a building.

"So this is the World of the Living." Renji said looking around.

"The pseudo-Hollow we're going against is somewhere nearby." Shūhei said. "The difference between the pseudo-Hollows and the real things is that the pseudo ones have red eyes while actual Hollows have yellow ones. Not too hard to remember."

"Just one Hollow? How hard can that-" Renji never got to finish his sentence because a roar was heard and a giant creature landed in front of us. Its body was green and shaped like a lizard except its front legs were more like clawed arms that were very long. It had a hole in its chest a little to the right of where the heart should be and a white mask shaped like a lizard. I realized it was the pseudo-Hollow when I saw its red eyes. It got up on its rear legs and roared.

"Alright everyone, show me what you've got." Shūhei said as he, Aoga, and Kanisawa stepped back.

"Ready everyone?" Izuru said as he took out his zanpakutō.

Renji and I said nothing as we unsheathed our blades also.

_This will be your first time going into actual combat in a long while, you ready?_

'It's not actual combat, but regardless, the Great Seal didn't make me rusty in the slightest.' I responded as the pseudo-Hollow lunged at us. I jumped to the right, Izuru jumped left, and Renji jumped straight up.

"Take this!" Renji shouted as he tried to strike the creature's head, but it reacted in time and grabbed Renji with its right arm.

"Izuru save Renji! I'll distract it." I shouted as I stabbed it in its left arm. The creature roared in pain and looked at me. I smiled as Izuru jumped towards the arm holding Renji and sliced off the hand. The monster roared in pain again and Izuru and I took the opportunity to gain some distance between it and us.

"Ouch." Renji said as he fell to the ground and then stood up. "Guess I owe you guys one."

"Just be more careful." I said while keeping my gaze on the now left-handed creature that was just waiting while grabbing his handless arm with his only hand.

"Ok then, what do we do?" Renji asked, now thinking twice about running right at it.

"Simple." I said as I explained the plan to them.

"That might work." Izuru said.

"Or fail miserably." Renji complained.

"Better than your idea." I retorted before looking back at the pseudo-Hollow where, to my surprise, its missing hand was growing back. "Ok, let's begin."

"Hadō# 31, Shakkahō!" Izuru shouted as a red ball of energy fired at the creature, but instead of hitting the head or torso, the spell hit the legs, surprising it and causing it to fall onto all fours.

"Go!" I said as Renji and I began our dash towards it with Renji running right in front of me, blocking me from the creature's line of sight. It saw Renji and tried to grab him, but he abruptly stopped just beyond the pseudo-Hollow's reach with a grin saying 'you just lost.' I then jumped up onto Renji's shoulder and onto the arm the creature tried to grab Renji with.

I began to run up its arm towards its mask when I saw the other arm try to grab me. I smiled yet again as I heard a "Hadō# 31, Shakkahō!" from Izuru which blasted the arm that tried to grab me, warding it off as I jumped off the arm towards the white mask and drove me sword right in-between its red eyes. I jumped off its mask as the red eyes faded away and the body began to desintagrate into black particles.

"We did it!" Renji shouted as Izuru gave a sigh of relief. All of us heard clapping and turned to see Shūhei clapping with a clipboard in his hands.

"I'm impressed." Shūhei said as he walked forward. "Such an excellent display of teamwork from all of you and leadership from you Minato. How'd you learn to be such a good leader?"

"I guess I was just born with it." I said as I remembered my time leading S.E.E.S. in Tartarus and on Full Moon missions.

"Well I must say you guys did wonder-" Kanisawa tried to say when in a sudden flash the upper-half of her torso was gone. We heard a roar and saw a massive creature crash down in the same area the pseudo-Hollow was. This one was big. It was shaped like a gorilla and even had a gorilla-like mask on its face and had its hole exactly where its heart should be. We then saw in its mouth the upper-half of Kanisawa's body with the head sticking out with a look of surprise on it. I quickly noticed it had yellow eyes and realized that these were real Hollows.

"Bastard!" Aoga shouted and unsheathed his zanpakutō, but before he could strike, the Hollow moved suddenly and squashed Aoga with his hand. All of us heard the sound of bones breaking and saw blood dripping from the monster's hand as he lifted his fist from where Aogo once stood.

"Everyone, stay calm and-" Shūhei tried to say, but his eyes widened in fear as more Hollows arrived to join the gorilla once.

"Crap! What do we do?" Renji said as he backed away.

"All of you, run away! I'll try to hold them-" Shūhei said as he took out his zanpakutō.

"No!" I shouted, surprising Shūhei. "We're not going to leave you behind."

"But!" Shūhei tried to reason, but I put a hand up to stop him.

"Put some faith in us, why don't you?" I said with a smile as Shūhei sighed in defeat.

"Alright, but first sign of us losing and you all are getting out of here. Understood?" Shūhei asked to which we all nodded. "Well then Minato, tell us what to do."

_Just like old times?_

'Yep.' I replied as I took a quick look at the Hollows. There were five of them and none of them looked like a pushover.

"Come one Minato, they won't wait forever." Renji said, getting nervous.

"Izuru, stay back and fire hadō spells at any Hollow that's about to attack. Don't think of doing damage, just make sure that their movements are restrained. "Renji, focus on the Hollows on the left side, try to lure them to the middle. Shūhei, do the same for the right side."

"What will you be doing?" Izuru asked.

"I'll be chanting Sōkatsui." I replied.

"You plan to take them out in one blow? But what if you miss? You passed out when you did it the first time." Renji said.

I nodded. "We only have one shot, so let's make it count!"

"Very well." Shūhei said as he turned to face the Hollows.

I put my hands together as if I was about to fire a blast. "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone," Renji and Shūhei ran towards the sides I told them to go to. "flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!" Izuru began to fire hadō spells of 31 and 33 constantly at the Hollows. "Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams…" Renji and Shūhei began to push the Hollows towards the middle. "…unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." The energy began to concentrate in front of my hand and a big ball of blue energy formed. "Hadō# 33," Renji and Shūhei moved out of the way as all the Hollows saw what I was doing and moved towards me, but it was too late. I let out a triumphant grin as I said the last word they would all hear. "Sōkatsui!" I said as the ball erupted from my hand and zoomed towards the Hollows like a beast that has found new prey. A massive explosion erupted from the impact and as the smoke cleared I saw my hard work pay off. Three of the Hollows, including the one that killed Kanisawa and Aogo, got almost all of their upper-body blasted off. One got about a third of their head and body vaporized while the other still had their head intact, but almost half of his body destroyed. While Shūhei quickly skewered that Hollow in the head, the other four were already fading away with the fifth one not too far behind them.

"Great job Minato." Shūhei said as I saw his face bleeding.

"What happened to your face?" I ask.

"One of them had claws and scratched me. Nothing to serious, Izuru's hadō spells hit its arm before it could do anything worse."

"That's good to hear." A new voice said. We turned around to see Gin, Sōsuke, and Momo behind us with a few other students and soul reapers.

"Good to see you Captain Aizen." I greeted.

"Yes." He responded. "We detected the Hollows here and came to lend support, but when we came here, we saw you fire your Sōkatsui and defeat all of them. Well done, all of you."

"Thank you sir." All of us said.

"Momo, please escort these four back to the Academy. The rest of us will search the area to see if there are other Hollows. Let's go Gin." Sōsuke said before he and Gin vanished.

"Please wait a moment." Momo said as she took out her zanpakutō and, using it like a key, stabbed it into the air, turned it, and a door materialized. "After me." She said as we all followed.

**Third Person P.O.V.**

Gin and Aizen stopped on a building a few miles away from the rest of the group and concealed their spiritual pressure.

"That was unexpected." Gin said looking at where the battle took place between Minato and the Hollows.

"Indeed. I never expected Minato to have such good leadership abilities or have enough power to slay five Hollows with one blast of a Hadō# 33."

"Well four, he just critically injured the fifth one." Gin corrected.

Aizen took no offense knowing that it wasn't over something important. "Either way, he has a lot of power and leadership tucked under his belt. What did you learn from when you confronted him?" Aizen asked.

For once, Gin's frown was gone and he opened and narrowed his eyes. "He doesn't give in to intimidation. I think he might've found it funny that I was trying to be intimidating. This either means that he's too powerful to be afraid like you, he has dealt with greater intimidators than I, or both."

"Most likely the first or the third choice. Anything else?"

"Whatever he did to get copies of people's spiritual pressure, he's aware of it." Gin said. "I tried for myself to see if I could detect it, but it's quite difficult. The best a lieutenant could do is seeing that there's Minato's spiritual pressure and something else, which consists of the other people's spiritual pressure."

"Even I have difficulty doing so, I must say." Aizen admitted. "I can easily tell how many people's spiritual pressure he's copied, but I need to be close to him to identify who they belong to."

"Well you were pretty close to him today, have you found out if he added others to his collection?"

"Indeed he has. The already known are Izuru Kira, Shūhei Hisagi, Isshin Kurosaki, Shunsui Kyōraku, and an unknown that's probably from the Rukon District. I have detected three new ones."

"That many? He's working hard."

"Apparently so. One seems to be such a complete mixture of other spiritual pressures that it is impossible to figure out the ones that make it up without knowing whose spiritual pressure you're looking for. The second belongs to Byakuya Kuchiki. The third is…"

"Is…?"

"You, Gin Ichimaru."

This completely shocked Gin. He thought that if he knew what Minato could do to other soul reapers he would be able to prevent it. He took the most careful of observations during his interaction with him and found nothing peculiar, but he just found out that Minato gained his spiritual pressure? That surprised even him. All he could manage to say at that moment was "When?"

"When you talked to him, or, to be more precise, when you shook hands. However, I noticed no fluctuation of your spiritual pressure or anything on Minato's hand except his skin, but a few seconds after you shook hands, spiritual pressure just like yours came from Minato."

Gin quickly recomposed himself and placed his usual face back on, grin and all. "He's craftier than me to do it so secretly."

"Yes, maybe we should look to him as an ally instead of a pawn then."

"What makes you think he'd comply so easily?"

"If things work out correctly, he'll hate the Soul Society as much as or even more than Kaname." Aizen said.

"That would be interesting to see." Gin chuckled.

"Well then, we should depart." Aizen said as he sent a Hell Butterfly to notify the other students and soul reapers to return before opening a Senkaimon and leaving with Gin right behind him.

* * *

Well, let's begin the explanation now. What I'm basically saying is that Minato spent such a long time with high level personae (you had to have at least five ultimate personae by December) that there stats 'rubbed off' onto Minato which led to him having how stats himself. He'll only be able to use the stats if threatened or concentrating, like preforming a chant. Hope this simplifies things and no, this doesn't mean he becomes Chuck Norris when in danger. The stats he received from his personae didn't make him _that_ strong, but strong enough at the moment.

Hope all of you like Nyx because she'll be commenting along with the personae from now on. I couldn't think of a reason not to do so and my one-shot 'A Warden and his Prisoner' is kind of in this story, but happened before this story began.

Well that's all for now. Stay tuned to find out what scheme Gin and Sosuke have in store for Minato which won't actually happen for a few chapters sadly.

(btw, I think this has been my longest story besides my author's notes)

Oops, forgot the reviews.

**Frostfire613**: I actually have that power in mind for a different a character. You know him from the Bleach anime, but I 'tweaked' him a bit.

**DemonRaily**: Glad to find a Nyx-lover like myself and don't worry, all will be revealed about Minato's zanpakuto soon and Aizen's power might be able to work, but that's a secret.

**Think Again**: No, I haven't played Nocturne, why?

**Selias**: You're 75% right. Can't believe you got so close. Good job.

**Sacchin**: Nyx will be adding much more than her 'two cents,' trust me.

**HellPwnage1337**: Not a bad idea, but that will have to come much later in the story. Remind me then.


	9. Chapter 9

I am so sorry everyone! School prevented me from typing too much and I lost the progress I made on it a few days ago and so I slave drove myself to finish it. I think you'll like this chapter though. Minato finally achieves Shikai and that's all I'm saying. Again I apologie everyone.

* * *

Chapter 9: Advancement

**Third Person P.O.V.**

Captain Unohana walked into the Captain Commander's office with a clipboard in hand that she was observing. She looked up and noticed Captains Kurosaki, Kyōraku, and Ukitake were already there with Captain Commander Yamamoto.

"Hey Retsu." Captain Kurosaki said.

"Good afternoon Captain Unohana." Captain Ukitake said while Captain Kyōraku just waved.

"Do you have the report?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yes. This is the report as written by Shūhei Hisagi and signed by Captain Aizen." Retsu said as she handed over the clipboard to Isshin. Yesterday Yamamoto asked her and the three other Captains present in this room to maintain observation over Minato meaning that these reports will be occurring every one or two days. She didn't like doing it because she felt like it was an invasion of privacy, but Minato's power is something that does instigate caution. Especially when he has the spiritual pressure of two Captains in him.

"I still don't understand why we can't let Sui-Fēng handle this. She's the one in charge of the Stealth Force." Isshin sighed.

"You know exactly why." Yamamoto responded instantly and as much as Isshin didn't want to admit it, he was right. The Stealth Force reports their findings to the Head Captain and Central 46, and if Central 46 learns about Minato then they'll take no chances and haul him off to the Maggot's Nest or execute him.

Isshin just sighed and looked at the paper on the clipboard. "It says here that Mr. Arisato's class went in groups to the World of the Living to combat pseudo-Hollows for practice against the real thing." Isshin said looking over the report.

"Yes, I gave Captain Aizen permission to do that." Yamamoto said with a 'get to the important stuff already' look.

"It also says that almost every group was then attacked by a real Hollow. Minato's group got the worst and was ganged up on by five Hollows."

"Was anyone killed?" Jūshirō asked. He was always worried when the lives of children were in peril.

"Two students called Kanisawa and Aoga were killed, but only those two."

"And the rest of Minato's group?" This time Shunsui was the one to ask the question.

"Besides a few bruises and a small facial injury on Shūhei everyone was ok."

"How did they get past the Hollows?" Again it was Shunsui as he believes that this was the interesting part.

"Well it says…oh wow." Isshin said with eyes wide.

"What?" Yamamoto said, getting impatient.

"It says Minato defeated all the Hollows with a Sōkatsui blast."

"What?!" Kyōraku almost spit out the sake he was drinking in total shock and Jūshirō started having a small coughing fit for a few seconds.

"Well according to this, Minato led the group to pushing the Hollows into a small group while he did the incantation for Sōkatsui. The resulting blast killed four Hollows and critically injured one. Shūhei quickly killed this Hollow when it was down."

"Seems to me like this boy's got talent." Kyōraku said.

"I knew he had something in him." Isshin said grinning triumphantly.

"How about his combat skills?" A voice asked.

"Well he has shown to be able to do quite well against the pseudo-Hollow and before that he showed himself to be equal against the fourth seat of squad 11 in zanjutsu." Isshin said right off the bat.

"Hmph, Chigusa never said anything." That was when the Captains in the room took notice of the new voice and saw Captain Zaraki standing there.

"How much have you heard?" Yamamoto asked. Truthfully he didn't want Kenpachi involved and hoped that he only just arrived.

"Enough to know that this Minato guy might be fun to fight." Kenpachi said with his toothy grin. Yamamoto was glad that the only thing Kenpachi was ever interested in was fighting.

"Hey, hey, don't kill the poor boy." Kyōraku said.

"Anyone who can equally fight against my fourth seat isn't some 'poor boy.' Besides, I won't kill him. If he's this good now, I'm anxious to see how he fights when he graduates." Kenpachi said before turning to leave, but quickly stopped. "That reminds me. I wanted to ask if some of my squad members and me could go Hollow hunting."

Yamamoto sighed. He remembered that after what Kenpachi did the last time he went 'Hollow hunting' he told Kenpachi to tell him whenever he would go out on these excursions. He still remembers the chaos from what Kenpachi did last time. Ghost stories of a one-eyed demon destroying everything in his path are still spreading in Africa and show no signs of dying out even though they began twenty years ago.

"You can go, but please keep the collateral damage to a minimum."

Kenpachi's grin grew wider. "Sweet. I'll go right after I meet this Minato guy." Kenpachi said before dashing off.

"This won't end well." Isshin said earning a nod from everyone else before they finished the talk about Minato and decided to have some friendly chats before disbanding and in Yamamoto's case, to get some medicine for a headache he's sure he'll have by the end of the day.

**Minato P.O.V.**

Classes were canceled for the rest of the day. Apparently our group wasn't the only one attacked. Almost all of the groups were attacked, but thankfully Kanisawa and Aoga were the only ones who died due to the immediate response from Sōsuke and Gin to the situation. Rukia was able to fend off a Hollow that attacked her group, but got injured in her left arm. The injury Shūhei got on his face was nothing serious, but will leave a scar, or scars to be specific. Three, vertical scars going down the right side of his face. If you ask me, I think it makes him look cool and he agrees. I decided to take the free time and visit the Kuchiki Manor and introduce Izuru and Shūhei to Byakuya.

"Wow, this place is huge!" Shūhei said as he stared at the front entrance of the Kuchiki Manor with Izuru, Renji, and I. "How did you become friends with them exactly?"

"I have my ways." I replied as I knocked on the giant door and, to my convenience, Byakuya opened the door.

"Greetings Minato." Byakuya said before sending a stern glare towards Renji who did the same thing back.

"Hello Byakuya." I said before I made a gesture towards Izuru and Shūhei. "This here is Izuru Kira and Shūhei Hisagi, fellow students."

Byakuya nodded before opening the door all the way. "Please come in." Which we did, but Byakuya almost closed the door in Renji's face when he tried to enter. As much as I would reprimand Byakuya for that, I couldn't help but smirk a bit.

**_Sadist much?_**

_You have no idea._

'What's that supposed to mean?' I was shocked at how Hypnos could call me a sadist.

_Back when I was with Takaya, I saw how you were thrashing him with incredibly high-leveled spells. Doing it all with a smile._

**_Seems like having so many different personae in the mind of one person can make them crazy._**

'I'm not crazy!' I responded in protest.

**_Sure, sure._**

I sighed at Nyx's response and turned to Byakuya. "Where's Captain Kuchiki?"

Byakuya was about to answer when the man in question appeared next to him. "Hello Minato, I see you've brought some of your friends."

"I hope it wasn't rude."

"Not at all." Ginrei said with a small smile that's almost impossible to see. "By the way, I heard about what happened today. I feel sorry for the two students that died, but I'm more intrigued by what you did. Defeating five Hollows with one blast of Sōkatsui? That's a very impressive feat you know."

"Well it was only four. Shūhei took out the fifth." I really didn't feel like being praised so much.

Shūhei snorted at this. "True but that fifth Hollow was missing half of his body. Even if we left it alone it would die from the injuries. I practically put it out of its mercy."

"And the only reason it survived was because it was the most out of range of your blast." Izuru chipped in.

"Yeah and if it weren't for your instructions we might never have gotten such a good shot like the one you took." Renji added.

"Well seems like we have a kidō expert and a natural leader. Seems like I might have to work harder to get you." Ginrei chuckled slightly.

"Grandfather?" Byakuya asked curious.

"That's right, I haven't told you. Minato here is considered the prodigy of this year's students. He's been getting very popular with the Captains also. Especially Captain Kurosaki."

I sighed at this. "First Captain Kurosaki called me a member of his squad." This mildly surprised Byakuya. I guess that this was not too uncommon when dealing with Isshin. "Then he actually declared me the next Captain of squad 10."

Byakuya almost fell over at this and turned to Ginrei who just nodded.

"Wait, what?!" Three voices shouted. I forgot that I didn't tell Renji, Shūhei, and Izuru the full events of what transpired at my meeting with them.

"I think this topic would be best left for another day." Ginrei said, getting everyone's attention away from what I just said. "I believe you came here for Jinzen practice, correct?" I nodded in response. "Excellent, I've prepped a room for the occasion." Ginrei then turned around with all five of us following him. He led us to a door that looks like a traditional Japanese sliding door, but there was a console right next to the door with a number of dials, switches, and buttons on it.

"What's that for?" Renji asked out loud.

"This is something I enlisted squad 12's help in. Using samples taken from the space-time gab in-between the Sol Society and the World of the Living, formally known as the Dangai, squad 12 has been able to create areas of minor temporal distortion."

My mind instantly went to the events that caused the creation of the Dark Hour and Tartarus. Mitsuru's grandfather and a team of scientists originally collected shadows for the purpose of time travel and nearly ushered in the apocalypse. So now I get really cautious when time, temporal, or anything similar is spoken about.

**_Oh relax. It's not like they used shadows in the device._**

'But still...' I replied before I asked a question to Ginrei. "Is it for training?"

"Indeed. The console here alters the time distortion. You have it so time goes faster or slower in the room while time continues at a regular pace outside. It's quite an ideal place for training."

"Is it safe?"

"Well, as long as no one tries to destroy the room or console while they're active, nothing bad will happen." Ginrei assured us. "But since no one is crazy enough to do that nothing will go wrong."

"Well since he said nothing will go wrong then nothing will go-" I clamped Renji's mouth shut before he jinxed us.

"What can go wrong will go wrong." That was all I said before I removed my hand. I really didn't feel like testing my luck and I didn't want Renji to test his and doom us all.

"Well you do have a point, but you don't need to worry." Ginrei said before he opened the door to the time-altered room. It looked exactly the same as any other room that could be found around the manor to my surprise.

"Well let's go!" Renji said as he practically pushed all of us into the room.

"I set it for every two hours that goes on in there; one hour will pass outside, giving you twice as much time to train. I've set the time for the room to be active for four hours. I'll be back then." Ginrei said before closing the door.

"Well, what do you guys want to train?" Renji asked.

"I thought we came here for Jinzen practice." Izuru said.

"But that's boring!" Renji whined. "I want to practice zanjutsu!"

"Such a brat." Byakuya sighed.

"Well…" Shūhei scratched the back of the head. "…I don't really feel like doing Jinzen and Renji will keep on complaining until one of us agrees to spar with him."

"Point taken." Byakuya said. "How about you, Minato?"

"I want to practice Jinzen. I think I'm getting close to learning the name of my zanpakutō or something like that." I responded.

Byakuya smiled and nodded. "You're advancing quickly. You just started communicating not too long ago, correct?"

I nodded before we split the group so a third of the area is reserved for us so we can meditate and the rest for Renji and Shūhei to spar.

"Well then, let's begin." I said as the three of us sat down with our legs crossed and our zanpakutō on our laps. The sound of Renji and Shūhei sparing became distant in my mind as I opened my eyes to find myself in Tartarus again.

**Third Person P.O.V.**

Ginrei was in quite a happy mood today. He wanted Byakuya to be a strong leader for the Kuchiki Clan. He even set it up so Yamamoto would allow Byakuya to be the next Captain of squad 6 once he masters bankai and the position's open. Once Byakuya has proper handling over the Senkei, it can be considered mastery over bankai, but he can only hold that state for about thirty minutes, but this is beside the point. Ginrei was happy that Byakuya, while still as studious as ever, has made friends with people. However, he's worried that the tension between red-headed boy, Renji, and his grandson will cause them to fight, but it seems like the tension that exists between friends that don't like to consider themselves friends so he's not worried.

His main worry was Minato. Minato looked and acted like an excellent person. From what he can gather from the Academy reports and how he acts, Minato is intelligent, skilled, talented, possesses great leadership, and can easily make friends. He would consider Minato to be a great person, but he overheard a discussion between Yamamoto and Retsu with Minato as the subject. They spoke about surveillance over him and being cautious about him. While Ginrei didn't know for what purpose they're watching over Minato, he hopes it is or will turn out to be nothing serious.

**BANG**

"What in the name of?" Ginrei asked to no one as he walked to the front gates to see cracks on them.

**BANG**

The gates shook and the cracks multiplied and got deeper.

"Will someone open the damn door already? I'm tired of knocking!" A familiar voice said.

Ginrei sighed as he quickly opened the nearly broken gates to (unfortunately) find Kenpachi at the door. "Yes Kenpachi?" Ginrei asked hoping that he would leave soon.

"I heard that that boy Minato is here at your place." Kenpachi said with a toothy grin.

"What of it?" Ginrei asked, getting a sinking feeling.

"I want to see just how strong he really is." Kenpachi said as he took a step forward, but Ginrei stepped in front of him.

"He is currently training right now. Could you at least give him the courtesy to let him finish?" Ginrei said, hoping he will agree.

"Of course, he'll be stronger after training which means I'll have more fun! When's he done?" Kenpachi asked anxiously.

Ginrei was about to answer ten hours, but the universe decided to play in Kenpachi's favor because one of Ginrei's servants appeared behind him.

"Sir, I've set the amount of time the room is to be active to four hours, as you requested, sir." The servant said before leaving.

"Four hours, huh? He must be working hard then. I'll be back in four hours." Kenpachi said turning around before he looked back at Ginrei with a sadistic smile. "Make sure the boy's ready when I come." Kenpachi said before running off at a blinding speed.

Ginrei rubbed his temples as he began to contemplate the chaos that will ensue in four hours.

**Minato P.O.V.**

I look around and this time it looks like the fourth block.

_It's been a while._

"Not really." I responded as I walk onward.

_You've made a link with Gin I see._

"It was kind of inevitable really."

_You've actually been making good progress lately. While none of your links are highly developed, you have quite a number of them._

"Does this mean that you'll tell me your name or something?"

_Well if you can figure out what being from your memories I'm based off of then I might tell you my name._

"How can I do that if I don't know what you look like?" I asked confused. "Will I see you if I reach the top?"

_I never said that, but I guess one last hint is in order. The form I take opposes the words I speak. Now figure it out before you have to leave. You have every clue you need at your disposal right now._

"Is that really all I get?" I asked out loud, but got no reply. So I continued on walking as I pondered what he said. He said I had all the clues I needed.

The first one: Tartarus. He must have something to do with Tartarus, but while that narrows it down a bit it's still not enough. I need more.

That leads to the second one: Climbing. He said to keep on climbing the tower. This doesn't help much in itself without the third clue.

What he last said: The form he takes opposes the words he speaks. This means that whatever his form is cannot climb, this actually narrows it down somewhat, but it sounds like I'm missing something.

He also said that I have everything at my disposal so there's no point trying to find more hints. I thought long and hard about it before I thought of something. He didn't just say climb, he said for _me_ to climb. So whatever he's based off of is against, no cannot _be_ as long as I kept climbing.

I believe that's all I can piece together so I decided to condense it. His form is based off a being that is related to Tartarus and cannot exist as long as I continue climbing. All this points to…

I stop walking as a smile creeps onto my face.

"I never would've guessed." I said.

_Hmm?_

"That my zanpakutō, of all things, would be based off that annoying bastard of a shadow."

_Seems like you've figured it out._

"That third hint really cleared it up, Reaper." I said as I spoke the name of the monstrosity of a shadow my zanpakutō is apparently based off of.

What I heard next surprised me. I heard laughter, but it didn't sound like it was coming from somewhere, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere. Suddenly, the laughing stopped, and I don't mean get quitter, I mean the completely loud laughing flat lined, without an echo or anything. Next thing I heard was a rattling sound. The rattling of chains. After having experiencing it so many times before, I instantly took a battle stance, staring ahead intently, and waited.

_You know I can appear behind you._

At that I spin around to face…me? Wait, it is the Reaper, but it looks more like a fused version of the Reaper and myself. Overall he looked like the Reaper except his clothes weren't tattered, he was about my height, and his face wasn't covered in bandages except for two that started right above his two eyes and crossed each other at the bridge of his nose and wrapping around back right after the lips end. His face looked like mine except for two differences: his hair was black and his eyes were white. Other than that, he was a carbon copy.

"Well you must be my zanpakutō." I said with a smirk. "Either that or this is one interesting fun house mirror."

"Nice one." He said. He even sounds like me but a bit deeper actually. "Anyway, I am your zanpakutō. I symbolize your need to continue on and ended up taking the form of what would come after you if you didn't."

"Talk about irony." I said as I noticed that my zanpakutō was also wielding the Reaper's pistols. "Will you tell me your name now?"

"Very well, it's-" All that come was silence. Nothing could be heard anywhere as my zanpakutō's lips moved.

"Come again?" I said, a bit freaked out.

"You're not right to hear my name, but you're close. Sometimes conditions must be met before one can learn one's zanpakutō's name." He explained.

"I thought you said you'd tell me if I figure out the form you're based off of."

"I said _might_ first of all and I did tell you, you just weren't able to hear it."

"Tch." Was all I said, copying Shinjiro's catchphrase.

"Well I think it's time for you to go." My zanpakutō said.

"Do I have to fall again?" I complained. I didn't feel like having the sensation of falling into a bottomless hole again.

"Well you're very close to figuring it out, so I'll let you off easy this time." He said as a wall slid down revealing a small path to an access point.

"Why couldn't I just use that all the time?"

"Well the Reaper was always sadistic." He said with a grin on his face.

"Oh well." I said as I stepped into the green light.

**Third Person P.O.V.**

Kenpachi was leaping with glee as he headed back to the Kuchiki Manor. The Hollow Hunting had been fun and he even killed two Gillians, but after four hours have passed he ditched his squad and bolted for where Minato was. It has been a while since he fought anyone that might be good and from what he has heard about Minato, he's good.

Without even thinking of knocking, Kenpachi jumped over the giant gates of the Kuchiki Manor and into the courtyard. "Now where could he be?" He asked out loud.

"Captain Zaraki?" Kenpachi turned around to see Shūhei Hisagi looking at him surprised. He's known Shūhei for a while and even invited him on a Hollow Hunting excursion once. The guy fights well, but he's way too caught up with the fact that his Shikai looks like a murder weapon. All weapons are murder weapons, aren't they?

"Tell me Shūhei, do you know where Minato is?" Kenpachi asked with a grin.

Shūhei sighed, knowing exactly why he asked that. I'm only telling you because I have no hope of stopping you and you'd tear the place up if I left you alone. He's in that building." Shūhei pointed. "Just open the door and don't destroy it."

"Whatever." Kenpachi said as he jumped towards where Shūhei pointed.

Shūhei sighed again and made a small prayer to Minato hoping that he'll survive what's to come.

**Minato P.O.V.**

I opened my eyes, happy yet upset. I finally met my zanpakutō, but I couldn't learn his name. Either way this was a huge step and I'm content with that.

"So it goes like this?"

"Yes, exactly."

I turn to see Izuru in a stance similar to the stance one would take before casting a kidō spell. Byakuya was right next to him inspecting him.

"What are you goes doing?" I ask, making my presence known.

Byakuya turns around. "Well Izuru and I finished before you and I decided to help him with his kidō. He does have talent for it."

"Yeah, but until I can incinerate Hollows like Minato can I can't, I won't say I'm good at casting kidō." Izuru said. "That's why I'm challenging you Minato to who can become a better kidō caster!"

"Forgive me Minato, but I'll be helping Izuru here. I want to see just how far you two can go." Byakuya said.

"Well then Izuru, let me know if you want to compete." I smirked.

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana…_

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana…_

Two for one? Nice.

"Where are Renji and Shūhei?"

"After the room's time alteration ended, they went somewhere or maybe explore." Byakuya said not really caring about the two.

"Well I think I made good progress today. I-" I couldn't say what I wanted to yet because we heard a resounding crash outside and immediately headed out to see what happened. Coming our way was a giant man wearing the same white cloak- haori! That's what the white cloak Captains where are called. He was wearing an eye patch over his right eye and his hair had five stiff strands and small bells at their tips. He also had a scar that ran vertically right over the left side of his face, skipping his left eye.

He took out a long sword that looked like something had been gnawing on it and pointed it at me. "You Minato Arisato?" I nodded my head. "Name's Kenpachi Zaraki, I'm the Captain of squad 11 and I challenge you to a fight!" He shouted before lunging at me. I immediately jumped out of the way.

_Come one Minato! Let's fight!_

_I don't think this guy will be listening to reason soon._

**_This guy should be easy compared to me._**

I muted out the other voices and focused solely on my attacker. If I remember correctly, this was the guy Renji talked me about. The guy that defeated the previous Captain of squad 11 in one strike. I feel like I'm screwed, but I also felt screwed when I challenged Nyx herself and I actually won. So I drew out my sword and got ready.

Kenpachi looked at me and smiled. "You're not running, good." He then leapt at me. I did the same, but I got down low and below his swing and sliced at him. I turned around and noticed my hands were bleeding.

"What the?"

"Your strength wasn't enough to cut me so you took the damage as a result." Kenpachi explained, but he looked at where I cut him and I apparently did cut him by about a millimeter as a small drop of blood could be seen leaving my strike point. "Maybe I was wrong on that part." Kenpachi's grin somehow got even wider.

Kenpachi charged again and I tried to move out of the way again, but he was able to react fast enough to attack me. I instinctively raised my sword to defend myself, but still got knocked back and crashed into a wall.

'Dammit, it's nearly impossible to fight him. My attack only scratched him and he's more agile than he looks.'

_Maybe I should help._

I recognized that voice as my zanpakutō. 'Does this mean you'll tell me your name?'

_Technically you should know it, but for the benefit of the doubt, I'll tell you. Please just listen._

I stood up and relaxed every fiber of my body. 'Ok, please tell me your name.'

_My name is…_

I widened my eyes at his name before smiling, something that didn't escape Kenpachi's gaze.

"What are you smiling about?" He asked, a bit cautious.

"This." I said as I raised my sword high into the air. "Transcend, Ten no Saibankan! **(Jap. for Heavenly Judge)**" My sword began to glow a bright blue before shattering with the sound of a gunshot. The fragments then became to spin around my right arm as I felt something like a gun form in hands. I then noticed that a chain was forming around my arm before another chain formed around my left with a second gun forming in it. I looked to see both chains crossing diagonally around my chest. I looked at the guns and noticed that they started off looking like an evoker, but change into the Reaper's pistols at the barrel. Engraved on the outer sides of the guns is Memento Mori.

"That's your Shikai?" Kenpachi asked, curious.

"Yep, and now the fun begins." I said as I pointed both guns at Kenpachi and shouted in my mind. 'Orpheus!'

* * *

The battle shall be in the next chapter! Aren't I evil? Again I apologize for the late update. Also, I feel like the whole Shikai thing is rushed, but I need Minato to have it for the real fun to get started. Don't hate me over it.

The form Minato's zanpakuto took was a bit of a toughy for me as I wasn't sure who would best fit Minato's desire to climb up, but after watching a funny quote about irony, it hit me: to make the form of the zanpakuto that of who punishes for not climbing. I'm actually not sure whether or not that's irony, but oh well.

The method behind the activation and name of Minato's zanpaktuo was that when Minato obtained the Universe, he pretty much transcended and his zanpakuto pretty much symbolizes his ascent to that and the name is because of how Minato can be considered a Messiah and Messiah is his ultimate persona who is of the _Judgement_ arcana.

Now to the Reviews!

**NIX'S WARDEN**: I'm sorry that Messiah wasn't his zanpakuto. I hope the Reaper would suffice for you.

**Devil Arcana**: Perhaps they will fight, perhaps they won't. You won't get too many spoilers from me.

**Think Again**: My apologies, but this is rated M and I feel like making references in funny moments won't kill anyone. Well maybe Minato if he goes crazy enough from schizophrenia.

**SlyTrinity**: That's an interesting idea, I'll have to hold on to that.

**kroz phantomville**: I wasn't thinking about that, but now I have some devious plans in store for Thanatos and Soul Society.

Well then, tune in next time to see how Minato fairs out with his shikai!


	10. Chapter 10

I'm back everyone! Well not really, school is still pounding hard, but when the science fair (that my science teacher is making us do) is over. I'll have more time to work. Also, don't hate me over the battle with Kenpachi.

* * *

Chapter 10: Progress

**Minato P.O.V.**

I felt it. I felt the power Orpheus gave me when I was alive. This time it was placed into my zanpakutō. I felt Orpheus' skills flow into me and now it was time to unleash them.

"Let's begin. Agi." I said as I fired a shot. Kenpachi was slightly caught off guard by the sudden blast and got hit by the bullet. It didn't pierce him, but instead erupted in a fiery explosion the size of an Agi blast. Of course the damage it did wasn't much, but it did leave a burn mark.

Kenpachi looked at where the Agi burned him and smiled. Then he started to laugh, loudly. "Seems like there's more to you than I thought kid. You're right, let's begin." Kenpachi said as he dashed towards me. I jumped back and fired a shot with Bash in my mind No bullet came out and instead Kenpachi reacted as if he was just punched where I was aiming and stopped in his tracks.

"Come one Kenpachi, this is just getting exciting." I said as I decided to change. 'Jack Frost!'

_Yeah, my turn!_

"Bufu!" I shouted as a fired bullet turned into an ice shard mid-flight and hit Kenpachi.

"I gotta admit, these attacks are quite interesting, but they won't be enough to beat me!" Kenpachi shouted as he charged at me.

'Archangel!' I shouted in my mind as I changed personae. "Cleave." I said as I made a swinging motion as I pulled the trigger. The result was a blast of pressure towards Kenpachi that he easily blocked with his sword.

"Your power is quite interesting. Even though it's a pair of pistols, you struck me with a slashing blow. On top of that, you fired a shot that caused flames and another that turned to ice. I just wanted to fight you at first, but now I really want to see what else you've got up your sleeve." Kenpachi said as his power suddenly increased.

'Eligor!' I changed personae and immediately felt tired.

_I don't think you're ready to be using me so soon, my liege._

'Doesn't matter.' I replied as I pointed my guns at Kenpachi when an idea came to mind. I pointed one of the pistols at the ground. "Revolution!" I shouted as I pulled the trigger. A wave of yellow energy phased through Kenpachi and I.

"Somehow I feel more pumped up. What did you do?" Kenpachi asked.

"I increased the chances of us performing a powerful attack on each other. A bit of a gamble really."

"Heh, I would've reprimanded you for making your enemy stronger, but the fact that it was a gamble just made me excited!"

"Then let me do this. Twin shot!" I shouted as I fired both pistols at Kenpachi. The Revolution did its magic and managed to cause Kenpachi to fall to the ground even though he didn't take much damage. "Now for a One More, Cruel Attack!" I fired at Kenpachi and a yellow streak of energy shot towards him and blasted him back. I decided to keep up the assault and chased after him with both my pistols aiming. "Maragion!" I shouted as both pistols did a three-burst round causing six, level two explosions. All of which were centered on Kenpachi. 'Berith!' I switched to my other demon of Goetia. "Double Fangs, Maragi!" I shouted as the Double Fangs attack hit Kenpachi and was then quickly followed by six, level one explosions of flames. When I stopped I panted a bit before falling to one knee. I was completely out of breath.

_You ok Minato?_

'Yeah, just really tired.'

**_Your just overusing your powers. It will take some time before you'll be able to use your personae's abilities without tiring out._**

'You're probably right.' I replied as I saw Kenpachi come out of the rubble all of my attacks knocked him into. He looked badly beaten, probably because of the Cruel Attack I hit him with, but he was still smiling.

"Amazing. You just obtained Shikai and you already forced me back. Now it seems like I can go-" Kenpachi was reaching for his eye patch when someone stopped him.

"That is enough Captain Zaraki!" I turn to see Yamamoto standing there with Retsu, Jūshirō, Kyōraku, Isshin, and Ginrei standing next to or behind him. "I will not let you destroy Captain Kuchiki's Manor anymore!" I look around and realize that the courtyard was a mess. There were burn marks and small craters all over the place.

"I destroyed? Sorry old man, but for once I'm not the one who committed the crime. Blue hair over here caused a majority if not all the damage." Kenpachi said pointing at me with him thumb.

"This true Mr. Arisato?" Yamamoto asked/demanded from me.

I felt embarrassed slightly. "Well when Kenpachi attacked me, I kind of forgot about where we were fighting really. I'm sorry."

"Wait, what are you holding Minato?" Isshin asked, eyeing my pistols.

"This?" I asked pointing at the gun in my right hand with the gun in my left hand. Isshin swiftly nodded. "This is Ten no Saibankan, my zanpakutō."

"Yeah and quite a powerful one too. Has a whole arsenal of abilities that even I wasn't expecting." Kenpachi added in.

"You got your zanpakutō so fast?" Ginrei looked surprised.

"Saw it all." Byakuya said, appearing next to me.

"Oh yeah, where did you go when I started fighting?" I asked.

"I was getting Renji, Izuru, and Shūhei away from the warzone. I then intended to get my grandfather when I saw them already one their way." Byakuya explained. "But I must say, your zanpakutō is quite interesting. Transcend, Ten no Saibankan, correct?" I nodded at the activation for my zanpakutō. "What does the writing on the side of your gun mean?"

I was about to explain when Sōsuke arrived. "Forgive my interruption, but after feeling Captain Zaraki's and the Captain Commander's spiritual pressure in one place, I had to investigate."

"No worries Sōsuke. We just learned that Minato achieved Shikai. Transcend, Ten no Saibankan is what it is." Isshin informed. "We also learned that for once the destruction caused from a fight involving Kenpachi wasn't by Kenpachi."

"Minato caused this?" Sōsuke asked, looking at the chaos I caused.

"Yep, and he even forced Kenpachi to take off his eye patch. Or he would if Old Man Yama didn't stop him."

"I see." Sōsuke said.

"Anyway, what does Memento Mori mean?" Isshin said bringing Byakuya's question back up.

"Memento Mori. In Latin, it literally means 'remember your death.' It's used as a way of reminding someone of their mortality. That they aren't invincible and that they will succumb to death. That it's inevitable." I explained as I thought about all the stress S.E.E.S. went through in the month of December.

"Well I think almost everyone who lives in the Soul Society knows that." Shunsui noted.

"Indeed." Jūshirō said looking grim.

"Well, seeing who everything's back in order, I suppose we can leave now." Yamamoto said as he, Shunsui, Ginrei, and Jūshirō vanished.

"Well kid, I suppose I should head back." Kenpachi said turning to leave. "I must say though, you're quite the fighter. I wouldn't mind fighting you again. See me again when you become stronger, that's when the real fun starts." With that, Kenpachi left.

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana…_

I was slightly terrified at the fact I made a social link with him, but having the strongest Captain as one of my closest friends holds a lot of merit.

"Minato." I turn to see Sōsuke approaching me. "Kenpachi said that your power in unpredictable. What does he mean?"

I figured telling a Captain wouldn't hurt so I demonstrated. I pointed one of my guns into the air. "Maragion." I said as three bullets shot out going some distance before exploding into flames.

"So it's a fire type?" Sōsuke inquired.

I shook my head and switched to Jack Frost. "Bufu." I said as a shard of ice came out of the gun.

"Multi-elemental?" Sōsuke asked.

I then switched to Archangel and faced a boulder resting in the courtyard. "Cleave." I said as I pulled the trigger in a swinging motion. In about a second, a slash mark appeared on the boulder.

"Amazing." Sōsuke said. "Minato, when you graduate, please join my division. Not only will it boost morale, but I might be able to help you get stronger."

"I might take you up on that." I said with a smile. I expected a social link, but nothing happened. I figured it's because his arcana was already taken and left it at that.

"Come on Minato." Isshin said as he swung an arm around me. "We're going to celebrate your victory."

"But I didn't win." I countered.

"You made Kenpachi attempt take off his eye patch and that is an achievement all on its own." Isshin said. "Bye Sōsuke!" Isshin said as he dragged me along somewhere.

**Third Person P.O.V.**

Sōsuke stood in the slightly ruined courtyard of the Kuchiki Manor completely motionless. Even when Gin arrived behind him he didn't react.

"Captain Aizen?" Gin asked curiously as he actually overheard the some parts of the conversation starting from where Sōsuke appeared.

"Gin, please put up a barrier for sight and sound. I don't think I'll be able to hold myself much longer." Sōsuke said without even looking at Gin.

Gin quickly did so, anxious to see what Sōsuke was holding in. First he saw Sōsuke's shoulders and head shake and his glasses fall off. Then he heard it: snickering. It then transformed into chuckles, and then laughter until it became full out hysterical cries that made Sōsuke leaned back and laughed to the heavens. Gin understood why the barrier was needed. Anyone would freak out if they saw Captain Aizen like this.

Eventually Sōsuke calmed down and picked up his glasses, but didn't put them on. He turned around and had a grin on his face as if he won the lottery. "He's too perfect." Sōsuke said.

"He?" Gin asked even though he probably knew who 'he' was.

"Minato. He's too perfect. Transcend, Divine Judge, Memento Mori. It's as if he's a being who'll judge all of us. A messiah in a sense."

"If that's the case, are you sure you want him to know of your plans? He might become too much to handle." Gin cautioned.

"I know, that's why I need some preparation to be done. In the chance that Minato becomes stronger than me, I'll need him to become me." Sōsuke said.

"Become you?"

"Make my ideals his ideals; my goals his goals. If it works, then I'll have nothing to worry about with a successor like him. His mind is still young so it'll be easy to carve it into what I wish, just like I did with Momo."

At this Gin smirked while hoping that it'll not come to pass actually. "What about Isshin? He's pretty close to Minato. He might sway him before us."

"Don't worry, I've got a plan formulating in my mind and it'll remove Isshin and bring Minato to us in one stroke. Just need to place a few pieces on the board first." Sōsuke said as he put his glasses on. "I think it's time we returned Lieutenant Ichimaru."

"Of course Captain Aizen." Gin said as he deactivated the barriers and went with Sōsuke to the squad 5 barracks.

**Scene Change**

The silence was almost unbearable in Yamamoto's office. Yamamoto, Shunsui, Ginrei, and Jūshirō all returned there to discuss what happened on the grounds of the Kuchiki Manor, but none of them truly knew where to begin. That was, until Shunsui decided to speak.

"That Minato sure is something. To make Kenpachi excited enough to remove, or in this case, attempt to remove, his eye patch. Let's not forget that Minato also obtained his Shikai not too long ago. Not even an hour ago I believe."

"Yes." Jūshirō said with his serious look. "The amount of power in him is surprising."

"The question is, how will he use it?" Ginrei asked.

"Well, that remains to be seen." Shunsui replies "Minato is still somewhat young in terms of living years and a mere fledgling in terms of Soul Society years, so as long as he is with the right people. I doubt anything could go wrong."

"Yes, I agree." Yamamoto speaks for the first time since they entered his office. "It would be wise to make sure that Minato doesn't fall prey to the lies spread by the miscreants in the Seretei and Rukongai."

After concluding, a knock comes at the door to which Yamamoto allows entry to a person he sent a Hell Butterfly to on the way to his office.

"Yes, Captain Commander?" The invited person asks.

"There is a certain student, Minato Arisato. He is a boy with great power, but it is uncertain if he knows what to use it for. When he graduates, become a mentor of sorts for him and guide him to understanding the true path of justice."

"As you wish Captain Commander." Captain Tōsen said before leaving.

"You sure Kaname is a good choice?" Shunsui asks, a bit surprised over Yamamoto's choice of mentors.

"Captain Tōsen possesses a very strong sense of justice. For now he'll be a fine choice." Yamamoto replies, defending his decision.

Unknown to any of them, Kaname was on his way to meet with Sōsuke to tell him of Yamamto's decision, a decision Sōsuke will be very pleased to hear about.

**Scene Change**

Kenpachi Zaraki was in a good mood that day. He found a student who could be a wonderful opponent someday and that was a day he looked forward to. Entering his office, he was met by a certain someone sitting on his desk eating a bowl of sweets.

"Hi Kenny!" Yachiru Kusajishi says happily while waving.

"Hey Yachiru." Kenny says, giving a toothy grin.

"You seem to be in a good mood, Kenny." Yachiru points out. "Did you fight someone strong?"

"No, I fought someone who has the potential to and I'm excited for when he reaches it." Kenpachi says as he sits down behind his desk. Contrary to what most people would believe, Kenpachi does take paperwork seriously, but it's only so he won't be bothered by the other Captains or the Captain Commander for not doing it.

"That would be a fun day wouldn't it?" Yachiru said before resuming her devouring of the sweets in the bowl.

"You really shouldn't eat too much sweets, you know how _he_ acts if he catches you eating sweets before dinner." Kenpachi said in a fatherly tone, normal when the two of them are alone.

"But sweets are super tasty!" Yachiru complained. "Why did you make him co-lieutenant with me anyway? Now I'm not able to order him or anything." Yachiru then pouted a bit.

"You know exactly why I made both of you my lieutenants." Kenpachi said.

"I know, he's brutal with his axe and makes the best meals, but he never lets me eat sweets before dinner!"

"It's because it's bad for you." The man in question said, standing near the door, wearing a cooking apron. Any other member of squad 11 would be a laughing stock if they saw someone wearing an apron, but they never laughed at him because his food is amazing and if they do laugh at him, they get head-butted into next week.

"I don't care if it's bad for me! They're still good!" Yachiru retorted before eating some more sweets.

"Tch, fine, but don't expect any seconds. Speaking of which, dinner's ready." The man said before leaving.

"Aww." Yachiru looked like she was on the verge of tears, but Kenpachi knew she was faking.

"Relax; I'm sure he'll still give you seconds." Kenpachi said before finishing his paperwork. "Well then, I suppose we'll go Hollow Hunting after dinner."

"You got permission?!" Yachiru said jumping down with a now-empty bowl.

"Yep." Kenpachi said before he called one of his subordinates to drop off his paperwork and going to the mess hall with Yachiru.

**Minato P.O.V.**

By now, Isshin has stopped dragging me and I started walking behind him. I had no idea where he was taking me, but for some reason I felt more tired than I would normally feel after walking, even if the scrimmage (it was too short to be considered a battle) against Kenpachi is considered.

_That's my fault really._

'How so?' I questioned my zanpakutō.

_You weren't ready to receive Shikai._

'Say what?' I responded in surprise, almost stopping in my tracks.

_When a zanpakutō spirit is first formed, it is an exact duplication of the person's soul, like an identical twin. However, like an identical twin, they grow up to experience different things and thus become different. Before a Soul Reaper can achieve Shikai at all, the zanpakutō must first obtain complete individuality from its wielder or come to represent a certain aspect of that person._

'And you were neither?'

_Didn't you see how similar I looked to you?_ I gave a mental nod as a yes. _That means it wasn't time. A zanpakutō shouldn't even be able to communicate with their wielder in such a direct way so soon._

'But you're special?'

_No, you're special. Due to the materialization powers of your personae, I was able to do it sooner than possible and I decided to give you my powers to see how much farther before my Shikai could be considered complete. I'd say 85% done, but this will only increase with Jinzen and other practices, not training._

'Well then. I suppose we should get along well if we hope to succeed.'

_You make it sound easy._

SMASH

_Thou art I, I am thou_

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Death Arcana…_

'Did we just…'

_Apparently. This is good. This could be used as a progress bar of sorts._

'Fair enough.' I concluded before I noticed that Isshin stopped walking and stopped about a foot behind him.

"Where are we?" I ask as I peer over his shoulder to get a good look, but saw empty forest.

"Ok Minato. The place I'm about to show must be kept secret. No one, not even Yamamoto must know about this place. Understand?"

"Yes." I reply, a desire to know what this 'place' is.

"Good." Isshin said before looking around. "I remember it was somewhere here." Isshin started to roam around the place. "It's been almost 50 years since I was last here." Isshin said as he continued searching.

I started to get impatient and began to walk towards where Isshin was. "Maybe I could-" I wasn't able to finish my sentence as the ground gave away beneath me and I fell through. The fall was big, but I wasn't that hurt, except for maybe a few bruises.

"Oh, good job Minato!" Isshin shouted as he jumped down to where I was as I stood up. Looking around, I saw a massive cave system that seemed to go far enough back to go under the Seireitei.

"Where are we?" I asked looking around the massive place.

"An underground cave system a friend of mine built and entrusted me with before he left with another one of our friends." Isshin said and I could see the nostalgia on his face.

"Who were your friends?" I asked.

"Former Captain of squad 12, Kisuke Urahara and Former Captain of squad 2, Yoruichi Shihōin."

* * *

Let's face it, there's no way. Kenpachi could let loose without Yamamoto stopping him. Minato was able to get a few good hits in, but that's mainly due to preemptive strikes.

Also, I wanted Kenpachi to have more emotion in him (when no one besides Yachiru is around of course) and the co-lieutenant will be revealed later, but I left too many clues as it is for you viewers to figure it out.

Besides that, Tousen will be 'guiding' Minato to the true path of Justice. Let's see how this fairs out.


End file.
